TO THE EDITOR:
Through personal experiences involving various loved ones, my passion has significantly grown for mental health.
I was led to start a mental health campaign catering to black students after the incident that occurred November 2015 with the young man from Elon, who fell off of Morrison’s Balcony on our campus. Personally, I didn’t know the details of the situation, but I began to think about the possibilities behind this incident.
I came to the conclusion that if there was even the slightest chance that this young man could have been struggling mentally resulting in this heartbreaking incident, that something needed to be done.
I remember like it was yesterday, I was sitting on the floor in my friend’s Hinton James dorm room, and I told them that I didn’t know what I going to do, but I was going to do something.
The very next day I began asking around — academic advisors, upper classmen, and faculty — to see if anyone could lead me in the right direction.
I was blessed when I spoke with Chloe Russell in an academic advising appointment. She called someone who she thought would be able to help, which was Christopher Faison, who then introduced me to Erica Wallace. That very day Chris and Erica helped me to come up with a name and ideas for the initiative that is now called the We Wear The Mask Campaign.
This campaign is a movement dedicated to ending the stigma associated with mental health in the black community.
Its purpose is to encourage black students to feel comfortable acknowledging, addressing and advocating for their mental wellbeing.
