About 5.2 million adults will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder this year in the U.S. Information like this was combined with exercise at PTSD: A Night to Build Peace of Mind, an event hosted by a student public relations group.
Their event’s purpose was to promote awareness of PTSD on April 18 at the Yoga Projekt studio.
The group, Premier PR, partnered with the Tazwood Center for Wellness and the Yoga Projekt to bring yoga classes, reflexology sessions and massages to the Peoria community and students.
Ashley Arendt, the group’s director of social events, said the members of Premier PR initially wanted to create an event that was related to military veterans.
“We thought about PTSD, and we realized we jumped to a conclusion that only veterans have PTSD,” Arendt said. “We thought, ‘Why don’t we make PTSD an awareness issue within the Peoria community to realize it’s not just veterans?’”
Director of Clinical Services for the Tazwood Center Tricia O’Neal, who gave a speech during the event, said she thinks PTSD awareness is important because of the misperception about who can develop the disease.
“In the media, we hear mostly about military veterans and sometimes sexual assault victims, but it can really develop from any type of dangerous or life threatening situation,” O’Neal said.
Senior nursing and psychology double major Alli Moeller attended the event and said the night not only provided her with information about PTSD, but it also gave her an outlet during her stressful week.
“The event was great for everybody’s daily life, especially with school, because it was good exercise to relax and bring yourself back to reality,” Moeller said.
According to Arendt, Premier PR will keep in contact with the Tazwood Center and the Yoga Projekt over the next few weeks to measure how many of the event’s 50 attendees use those resources to schedule yoga or massage sessions or get more information about PTSD.
“I believe this was an informative event and that people will follow through,” Arendt said. “I think people actually really enjoyed themselves here.”
