During her first year at Colorado State University, Megan Roepke appeared at a meeting for CSU’s chapter Active Mind to write positive affirmations in The Plaza. She left hooked on the pursuit of mental health education and conversation.
“It looks really small,” Roepke said. “But at the time, seeing all these people come together and spread a positive message to try and brighten someone’s day – it really touched me.”
Now, as president of Active Minds at CSU, Roepke said she is dedicated to challenging the stigma around mental health for students by hosting events, workshops, guest speakers and more.
“It’s nice to have a community, especially because I’m a transfer student, so I didn’t know anybody when I first got here,” said Danny Werhane, the group’s acting treasurer. “It really gave me, like, a chance to come out at CSU.”
Other members of the organization’s leadership share Werhane’s perception of community and have personally grown from the experiences offered by Active Minds.
“Because we’re such a close-knit group, we’re like family, even though we’re part of a national organization,” Roepke said.
Using their connections and influence, Active Mind has been proactively involved around campus, occasionally through fundraisers and volunteer opportunities. For example, their recent donation drive with the Food Bank for Larimer County was collected 211 pounds of food.
In addition to forming friendships and helping the community, opening the floor for conversation is a big part of the group’s purpose.
“I love collaborating with Project Crew,” said member Kaylee Tune. “It’s about the topic of what is considered a ‘bikini body.’ It’s really jam-packed, … just having a good space to talk.
The group also provides educational opportunities, such as suicide prevention training with questions, Persuade, Refer institute. Werhane said the class was beneficial and digestible for everyone.
“It’s, like, a simple way to learn about suicide prevention and how to actually do it,” Werhane said. “People with no education in mental health can also join.”
Active Mind is no stranger to collaborations with psychology or other mental health organizations. Their latest partnership resulted in an arts and crafts night held March 26 with members of Psi Chi, CSU’s chapter of the international honor society in psychology.
Psychology Student Alliance President and soon to be Psi Chi President Emma Thompson is a key player in this crossover event.
“When I got involved, … I saw a lot of similarities between the clubs,” said Thompson, who is also the director of marketing and communications at Active Minds. “And so I thought this would be a great opportunity to collaborate.”
But even those who know about psychology and mental health can expand their skills, as Active Minds’ shows. Narcan training with End Overdose at CSU.
“I had heard of Narcan before, but I didn’t know how to use it,” Thompson said. “Now I keep one in all my bags, … and I feel like if I’m in that situation, I have the knowledge and skills to approach that situation in the best possible way.”
Roepke said Active Minds is an inclusive environment for anyone interested in learning or talking about mental health and its resources.
“It makes me happy to see people come and say, ‘Hey, coming here really made an impact and I feel better, it’s better to talk about these things,'” Roepke said.
As far as the future of Active Minds goes, current members say they are confident in the way the current chapter is headed. All the leadership team wants now is to share the group’s resources and efforts with others.
“I hope that next year we will attract more members who share the same passion as us and help us to reach more people,” said Roepke. “We are always out on The Plaza trying to recruit new people, and anyone is welcome to come and stop by and hang out with us and learn something,” said Roepke.
Reach Maiya Kreamer at life@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
#Active #Minds #CSU #creates #conversation #education #mental #health