Year: Graduate Student
Major: M.A. Applied Communication Studies
Like everyone I’ve had my ups and downs. However, having friends and family deal with mental health issues has had a big impact on why I think mental health advocacy is important.
Growing up, discussions about mental health were normalized for me. I have people in my family who have been open about their struggles with mental health. They educated me about the symptoms of mental illnesses and encouraged me to see help if I ever experienced mental health issues. I saw firsthand the importance of mental health advocacy as it made me more comfortable with getting support when I needed it.
When I needed help, I reached out. At first, I felt guilty for seeking support as I thought that the feelings of anxiety and depression, I was dealing with weren’t bad enough. Ultimately, I realized there isn’t a threshold of how bad you have to feel before you seek support. For me, talking to a counselor helped me find resources I could use to get through a rough mental health experience.
While talking about mental health is normalized for me, I know that’s not the general experience for everyone. Having people be open about having sought out support is so important—people in your classrooms, people you know on your street. They live where you live; they’ve had similar experiences. They have something tangible in common with you. That’s why it’s so important to let people know that there is help and that they aren’t alone. I hope to be the person for someone else that my family was for me by normalizing the discussion around mental health in the IUPUI community.