Kent State aims to achieve greater access to mental health care and well-being for all members of the university through a campaign, launched this fall, which focuses on awareness, acceptance and advocacy. We highlight eight mental health advocates who volunteered to share why they participated in the campaign poster.
As told to Jillian Kramer, BA ’06
A worldwide mental health crisis has been deepening for decades but worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization in 2022, anxiety and depression increased by 25–27% in the first year of the pandemic, and demand for mental health services continues to surge. Close to 1 billion people have a mental disorder and anyone, anywhere, can be affected. Children, adolescents and young adults are disproportionally at risk of suicidal and self-harming behaviors, and women and people of color also have been severely impacted during the pandemic.
In addition, extreme events related to climate change, cultural and political polarization, school shootings, police brutality, hate crimes, terrorist attacks and outbreaks of war throughout the world have compounded already difficult mental health conditions.
In October, Kent State University’s Division of Student Life launched a university-wide Mental Health Campaign to bring more awareness and support to this issue. Although the nation’s Mental Health Awareness Month takes place in May, Mental Illness Awareness Week is recognized during the first full week of October—and Kent State extended that to the entire month.
“This is a time when we notice a peak in the utilization and request for our mental health resources,” says Taléa Drummer-Ferrell, PhD ’14, associate vice president and dean of students for the Division of Student Life. She oversees the offices, centers, services, resources and initiatives focused on student wellness and has been leading the university’s efforts around mental health. Work groups focused on mental health have included members representing academic and administrative divisions, as well as graduate and undergraduate students.
Over the past three years, their recommendations have included, among others, enhancing mental health efforts across the university, restructuring Counseling and Psychological Services, creating the CARES Center [Crisis, Advocacy, Resources and Support] that opened in spring 2021, and developing a comprehensive Mental Health Resources and Support website that launched in spring 2023.
The campaign kickoff officially took place on World Mental Health Day, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, with an event featuring Kier Gaines, a licensed therapist and mental health advocate who is active on social media. The moderated discussion and Q&A was livestreamed and open to the university community.
The campaign also includes a bus wrap, posters and exhibits highlighting a diverse group of 37 mental health advocates—representing Kent State faculty, staff, students and alumni—who either shared their personal experiences, had someone in their life with mental health challenges, or were passionate about the topic. The posters also emphasize the campaign’s three main goals: to reduce the stigma, increase help-seeking behaviors, and refer a fellow Flash in need.
Drummer-Ferrell says one way to reduce the stigma is by having people share their stories: “If we can reduce the stigma, then people are more likely to normalize asking for help and not feel bad that they aren’t fitting a mold or that things aren’t going great.”
In the following stories, eight mental health advocates pictured on the campaign poster share, in their own words, their mental health journeys—and how they hope the campaign will help others.