That was the scene on the California State University, Long Beach campus last Tuesday, as Project: On Campus Emergency Assistance Network (OCEAN) a branch of the school’s counseling services, hosted an outdoor event called Light the Night with Hope.
It was the organization’s second annual event to raise awareness for mental-health issues and college-student suicide by inviting students and community members to interact with one another and to remove the negative stigma of those topics.
Brad Compliment, director of CSULB’s counseling and psychological services (CAPS), stood at a booth during the event to spread messages of hope and to tell students about the free help CAPS provides.
He said that it is important for students to take care of themselves through the challenges they may face— challenges that linguistics major Davena Amezquita said come in many forms. She mentioned that her main source of stress as a college student is monetary and that she cannot qualify for financial aid from the government.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”300px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-3.50.50-PM.png” credit=”Sebastian Echeverry | Staff Writer” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Students write messages of hope, such as the one pictured, for individuals who may have suicidal thoughts or a troubling mental illness. The bags are part of the Light the Night with Hope event hosted by Project: On Campus Emergency Assistance Network, a branch of California State University, Long Beach’s counseling services, on the campus Tuesday, Oct. 18 to inform the school body about suicide and mental health.” captionposition=”right” revealfx=”off”] “My parents make enough but not enough to send me to college, so I work part-time and barely make it to live,” Amezquita said.
College can be an expensive endeavor for some, and without the help of scholarships or grants, a drowning feeling can begin to arise. Amezquita said she has felt “underwater” at some points in her college career and felt as if no one could help.
“I’ve felt like that sometimes,” she said. “Honestly, I go to my mom. Usually I’ll tell her about it and she’ll give me advice, and I’ll feel better about it.”
However, some do not always have the support of family to lean on.
Afroz Patel, economics major, is a student at CSULB who recently relocated from Temecula.
“I just moved out here two months ago, and being away from my family is really hard,” Patel said. “I don’t want to let my parents down, and you sometimes feel like you only have one shot to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life.”
Although Temecula is about a two-hour drive from Long Beach, Patel feels as though the distance is much greater. With adult responsibilities starting to consume more hours of her life, Patel said she’s coping with the transition into adulthood, and not having her parents around can be a bit of a “struggle.”
College exams and homework can also be major contributors of stress and anxiety. According to a study the National Alliance on Mental Health conducted in 2012, almost 73 percent of students living with a mental-health condition have experienced a mental-disorder crisis on campus.
Amaris Baker, graduate peer educator for Project OCEAN, said that students from ages 18 to 24 are at greater risk of having suicidal thoughts. She also mentioned that men over the age of 50 have an increase in thoughts of suicide.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-27-at-3.50.43-PM.png” credit=”Photo by Amanda Del Cid ” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Project: On Campus Emergency Assistance Network, a branch of California State University, Long Beach’s counseling services, hosted an event Tuesday, Oct. 18 on campus called Light the Night with Hope. Here, Brad Compliment, director of the school’s counseling and psychological services, is speaking with a student during the event about the free help his department provides for the school.” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off”] This sudden spike in such thoughts could be attributed to a change in an individual’s life. Norma Vargas, marriage and family therapist trainee with the Long Beach Trauma Recovery Center, said that large shifts in a person’s life can have negative effects on the mental wellness of the individual. She explains that different phases in life come with different challenges. In college, school work and adult responsibilities can cause heavy levels of anxiety. However, another point in someone’s life that can have similar levels of stress is when they are in their 50s.
“You start to think whether you have left your trace in the world or not, be it positive or negative, and this is when you start questioning yourself again,” Vargas said. “Questions like, ‘Who am I?’ ‘What am I doing with my life?’ and ‘What did I do in my life?’ can increase some depressive symptoms.”
She explained that worries about re-employment or not being able to retire— mixed with health issues— can negatively impact one’s mental stability.
Aside from providing counseling advice to students, the event promoted the idea to speak freely about mental illnesses. Paula Patino, public relations peer advocate for Project OCEAN, said that conversations about psychological issues tend to have a negative tone.
“It’s OK to talk about these things,” she said. “A lot of times, people don’t want to talk about these issues because they will think they’re crazy. It’s OK to not be OK.”
During the event, Project OCEAN also promoted a suicide-prevention training program to students called QPR, which stands for question, prevent and refer. The QPR program is designed to mirror CPR first-aid. According to Project OCEAN, individuals who are certified in QPR are trained to identify warning signs of a suicide crisis, and the training is free for all students. More information on QPR training is available at csulb.edu/ocean.
As the night carried on last Tuesday, students at the event participated in workshops to make “stress balls” and sensory tubes that are meant to relax individuals. Those in attendance also wrote encouraging messages on paper bags and lined them up along the school’s fountain in remembrance of students who had taken their own lives.
