UWM Finally Steps Up to Combat Mental Health on Campus [OPINION]

This year on UWM’s campus, I’ve noticed a shift. There’s been an increase in mental health campaigning posters. Which I thought was odd, because for the past three years I’ve seen very few, and those had just been mentioning the Norris Health Center and not much else. 

This is my fourth year at UWM, and my experience has been not just one emotional rollercoaster, but an entire theme park filled with family deaths, illnesses and mental health challenges. And when you’re going through all of that it’s hard to believe anyone is going through similar situations or can truly understand what you’re going through.

I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t really matter if people can relate or not. Because people are going through their own struggles and even if they’re not similar to yours, everyone is going through something individually. 

At the low points of my emotional theme park experience, I never thought about going to the Norris Health Center. It’s not because I didn’t know about it, but because it felt impersonal. You see the posters for the center on campus, but they become just another sign you walk by in the hallways. 

But the poster about the depression screening stood out this time. There were emoji-like graphics of a heart and a brain hugging. The poster read “Campus Cares,” and I thought that was cutest poster ever. And let me just say, not many of the posters on campus catch my eye, but this one did. I’m not sure if it was analytical side of me deciphering that my heart and brain needed a hug, or if it was just the emojis with rosy cheeks that drew me in. Either way, I was sold. 

I went to UWM’s National Depression Screening Day Event mostly because I had a lot of family medical emergencies, and my mental health was draining from it all. I knew I was depressed but I went in anyway. And to my surprise, a lot more students showed up than I imagined. 

There were about 15 students lined up in the hallway where the screening where being conducting. Some, with bright red eyes were crying, or had just finished, and some seemed preoccupied. They stared at the walls, bit their fingernails, and shook their legs with nervous ticks. 

And in that moment, I knew we needed more of this on campus. This was the first year UWM had participating in this event, and by my observation from the 20 minutes I was there, it was well needed. 

I was dazed that some many other students came to be vulnerable in a safe space on campus. No one looked judgmental of the other and there were no suspecting whispers. Although a very heartbreaking sight to see, I was happy so many people showed up to get the help they wanted, maybe needed.

The screening consisted of students answering questions survey form, which at the time I thought was pointless and that verbal questions would have been better. After filling out the survey the other students and I waited to be called in by and advisor to a separate room as the screening was private and confidential. Finally, it was my turn and the advisor walked through my answers asking why I felt the way I did. He assured me that I wasn’t the only one experiencing a hard time and that students who he had seen before me had similar situations to mine.

The space was comforting and informative on ways to get help if I wanted it. Although this was just a survey to see if students are depressed, not an actual counseling session, I felt like it helped. Because although I pretty much knew I was depressed, sometimes you need reassurance.

Although the screening is a good place to start, based on what I experienced at the event, we need more outreach to students on campus. I think having the location at the Norris Health Center is OK, but we need counselors in the Union. Norris can be intimidating and when someone’s going through a mental health crisis going to a ‘health center’ could be off-putting. I think bringing the counselors to the students in an informal, more welcoming setting could benefit the campus better.