After two years at 窪蹋勛圖厙, Maia Delegal knew first hand the amount of stress college students can face, whether it be from academics, extracurricular activities, missing home or some combination of those and other factors.
Thats when she realized something was missing on campus: a student organization geared toward mental health advocacy.
Her natural tendency toward advocacy, compounded by her own experiences with mental illness, led Delegal to create 窪蹋勛圖厙s National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) on Campus chapter, which is just wrapping up its first year in existence.
NAMI, the largest grassroots mental health organization in the country, is geared toward educating people about mental illness and advocating for public policy. 窪蹋勛圖厙s chapter works closely with NAMI of Greater Cleveland, which has provided the students with training to become peer group facilitators.
Next week, Delegal, a junior studying cognitive science and medical anthropology, and other NAMI members will offer up the stage at Happy Dog for campus community members to share their stories of mental illness with a poetry slam. Held Wednesday, March 30, from 6 to 8 p.m., the poetry slam will allow people to discuss the difficult topic in a format Delegal hopes will be easier and more constructive for them.
Its hard to say, Hey, lets get together and talk about our mental health problems, " she explained. I think people connect to poetry as an art form.
Delegal hopes the event will be therapeutic, for both the people on stage and the ones in the audience.
I know its kind of a clich矇, but its really true that the stigma [of mental illness] makes you feel isolated, she said. I think an event like the poetry slam allows people to express the fact that theyre having struggles.
She knows the power of sharing ones own story because she does it so often as founder and president of NAMI. Her story not only involves her personal experiences with major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, but also her younger brothers struggle with an eating disorder.
In fact, Delegal decided to start NAMI just after her brother was diagnosed with a severe disorder that left his heart thinning from serious weight loss.
Though her brother hadnt yet reached college age, she knew he soon would be facing a stressful collegiate environment.
She didnt want her brotheror any student at 窪蹋勛圖厙to have to endure those stresses alone.
Now, NAMI is another resource on campus to ensure they don't.
As peer support facilitators, the executive members of NAMI offer a safe space after each general body meeting for anyone who needs to talk about anything, whether its their own issues or an issue with a friend of a family member.
Its a great thing because if you have multiple people in a room, all brainstorming solutions, it makes an issue seem a lot less overwhelming, she said. That idea of group wisdom is really the cornerstone of peer support.
Moving forward, Delegal hopes NAMI will expand its reach to even more students. Currently, the executive board serves on the Connect 窪蹋勛圖厙 Suicide Prevention Task Force, which grew out of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant the university received in the fall.
I just feel like the best way to empower yourself is to help empower others and learn through that, she said.
Get to know Delegal better in this weeks five questions.
