Mental health is an important topic to discuss at the college level, considering students are transitioning from high school to adult life. One week ago, a space opened up at Bradley for students to discuss these topics at length.
On Jan. 28, members of Bradley’s chapter of the Active Minds organization welcomed public attendees for an hour-long meeting centered around the importance of mental health and self-care.
Brenda Huerta, vice president of Active Minds, led the meeting. With Huerta’s direction, attendees got into a circle before sharing introductions.
Introductions didn’t only consist of everyone saying their names and majors, but also featured any current healthy coping mechanisms that attendees were using. The mechanisms shared by attendees included listening to music, driving, drawing and taking a shower to destress.
Huerta brought up the topic of self-care by listing the six different types (social, physical, emotional, practical, mental and spiritual), and then had all of the attendees give examples of each.
One example that needed elaboration was the practical type, which, as Huerta explained, is meant to fulfill any core aspects of your life to prevent future stressful situations.
“It’s like that part of your life where you organize things; you create budgets, you create planners,” Huerta, junior psychology and sociology double major, said.
By talking about the different types of self-care as well as its importance, Active Minds hoped that its event would benefit the students in a positive way, as detailed by the president of Bradley’s chapter, Gabi Necastro.
“Self-care has tons of benefits that most people aren’t aware of,” Necastro, a sophomore social media marketing major and management and leadership double major, said. “Taking care of yourself can boost your physical health, improve your emotional health, provide a break from stress, offer time alone, generate soothing feelings and more.”
To end the hour, everyone thought about the six types of self-care alongside what they had been lacking or avoiding in their routine before coming up with a plan. Attendees wrote their plans down on a piece of paper, which they would then be able to take home with them to follow on their own time.
“When I’m in a good spot, I try my best to learn about things that could potentially help me in ways that are safe,” Huerta said. “Instagram is something that I use a lot; I’ll follow therapists on there.”
After five minutes of planning, Huerta had people volunteer to share their plan and their reasoning behind it. This involved sharing any struggles that students had with school, mental health or personal relationships. Attendees then had the opportunity to give advice on the issues.
“Being around people who I know are going through similar issues, it’s nice to hear ways that other people use to help them through tough times,” Elodie Andrews, junior biomedical science major, said.
The event ended with attendees saying their names again and mentioning one good thing that happened to them over break, fulfilling Huerta’s wishes to end on a positive note.
For more information on Bradley’s Active Minds chapter, check out its Instagram (@activemindsbradley) or send an email to activeminds.bradleyu@gmail.com.
“Everyone deals with mental health; this club is for anyone and everyone,” Huerta said.
