The Marshall Counseling Center will host several outreach activities for mental health awareness, for suicide prevention and to help foster positive mental health for students.
The events coincide with National Suicide Prevention Month, which is recognized yearly in September.
On Wednesday, Sept. 11, a Suicide Memorial Luncheon will be held in the John Marshall Dining Room from noon to 1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
On Thursday, Sept. 12, ‘We Are…Here for You Day’ will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Memorial Student Center Plaza. Students will receive free hygiene packets, giveaways, information about the counseling center and an opportunity to leave positive notes on a Post-It wall.
Other events include SafeTalk Training, which helps students learn to recognize suicidal behaviors and to be proactive to identify and help others, and QPR Training, which is a federally funded program that teaches faculty, staff and students how to save a life from suicide.
“It’s extremely important to make students aware of suicide prevention, not only for themselves, but in others as well,” said Nikki Barr, mental health specialist at the Marshall University Counseling Center.
“The hope is by educating people about suicide prevention, we can make others more equipped to help those around them and maybe make people feel less alone and more likely to reach out for help,” said Barr. “College is difficult. You are having to cope and deal with so many different changes in your life from how you study, to how you live, what you do in your spare time and what’s going on at home. These can weigh down on a student and make this time in their life very hard. The counseling center is an incredible place where students can come with no judgement to have someone to talk to and feel both heard and seen.”
The counseling center provides individual therapy sessions to full- and part-time students and outreach activities and resources for mental health prevention and awareness.
To learn more about services offered through the Marshall University Counseling Center, visit https://www.marshall.edu/counseling/.