Chad Cashio posts student responses to the display answering the question "How has suicide affected you?" Riana Braselman/ The Lion's Roar

The display utilized back packs and shoes as a visual representation for the number of college students lost to suicide. Riana Braselman/ The Lion's Roar

World Suicide Prevention Day was Sept. 10, and two groups on campus collaborated to get students talking about the topic of suicide. NAMI on Campus Southeastern, a chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. set up a backpack display in front of the Memorial Fountain on Sept. 11 from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

President of NAMI on Campus Southeastern Chad Cashio, a senior social work major explained that the display instigates an important conversation about suicide and mental illness.

“College students have the highest suicide rate of any populations in the country,” said Cashio. “This stuff can be prevented the more we talk about it. There’s various reasons why people end up attempting suicide, but the bottom line of it is most of those reasons can be dealt with before it gets to a point of someone feeling like, ‘You know what? This is the only option I have left.’ Whether it’s they just have hard situations in life, whether it’s they feel like they feel isolated, and no one who cares about them, or if they have something that’s more chronic, if they have long term depression, anxiety, PTSD, any of those things.”

The display was confined to a taped-off area where various book bags and shoes were set up in order to give a visual presentation of the number of college students lost to suicide. Students who stopped by the display had a chance to write whose suicide had affected them in their own lives and post it in front of the display.

Sophomore criminal justice major Sydney Jones explained what the display meant to her personally.

“You walk over and you can feel the impact,” said Jones. “So, I guess the shoes kind of resemble an empty body before they kill themselves. They feel empty on the inside, and now the shoes are empty. They’re not physically there anymore.”

Alpha Kappa Alpha Ivy League reporter Sydnie Mcclinton stated that mental illness fell under the sorority’s area of interest, leading to their involvement with the display.

“One of the targets we have to do something for each year is health promotion,” said Mcclinton. “So, we’re here partnering with them to discuss some of the mental illnesses that people have that can lead to suicide. That’s a small representation of what we have out here as a display for those suicide rates, among college students.”

Cashio suggests that a crucial step in awareness and prevention of suicide is simply talking about it.

“When you have some little scary monster in a corner in the dark, the more it stays in that shadow, the bigger and scarier it gets,” said Cashio. “When you shine some light on that monster, it shrinks down, and it gets way less scary and way less powerful. That’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to shine a light on this stuff, to take the power away from it so that we can talk about it. It’s not going anywhere. Suicide rates are only increasing, and it doesn’t have to be that way. But, we have to actively talk about this stuff in order to prevent it.”

NAMI on Campus Southeastern will be hosting socials and meetings for students who are looking for a place to talk about their own experiences with mental illness.

“We’re hoping this semester to kind of build a community of peers so that folks know they have a place they can go to talk to about this stuff,” said Cashio. “Not necessarily a support group, because that kind of gets tricky, and we’re not professionals. But, at least a safe space where we’re openly saying, ‘Hey, if you deal with some kind of mental health disorder, we’re your people. We’re the folks that deal with that stuff too. We’re here to listen and talk about that stuff.’”

As resources for those who experience mental illness or suicidal thoughts, NAMI on Campus Southeastern has a Facebook page for its organization. In addition they also host a private Facebook page called Lions Helping Lions, which is designed as a depression support group. In order to join LHL, contact an existing member of the page by e-mailing the organization at [email protected] or one of its officers.