Rain dampened the plans for the National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) event in the Julian A. McPhee University Union (UU) Plaza today. However, the event carried on and the booth moved inside the UU.
Students who work for Peers Understanding, Listening, Speaking, Educating (PULSE) — a part of Health and Counseling Services — gave out surveys to students which assessed mental health.
Director of Health and Counseling Services Martin Bragg said this was the first on-campus event for NDSD that has happened in quite a few years.
“The point of this day is to help students who are struggling academically or personally,” Bragg said. “They can take a short screening to see if they could benefit from counseling services.”
The survey has broadened during the past 10 years to focus on anxiety disorders as well, Bragg said.
Students can also go online and choose between surveys about depression, anxiety, alcohol, bipolar disorder, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Once the students filled out the survey in the UU, they could meet privately with a counselor to discuss the results. The online survey also gave students information on how to contact a counselor at the Health Center.
According to the American College Health Association – National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA), 30 percent of college students reported they have “felt so depressed that it was difficult to function.”
The ACHA-NCHA survey also revealed 6 percent of college students reported they have seriously considered suicide.
Nutrition senior Erin Orme, a peer educator with PULSE who helped give surveys to students, said PULSE wants to create awareness of the resources available to students so they know of an outlet when they’re struggling with depression. Though the peer educators can’t diagnose students, Orme said they hope to make students feel more comfortable broaching the topic of depression.
“We’re here to be a bridge between students and the counseling center,” Orme said.
Psychology senior Katy Lackey, another peer educator, said the group was hoping that by making depression a topic of discussion, students would realize depression isn’t something to be embarrassed about.