Abbey:<\/strong><\/span> I just happened upon the idea when Googling activities to promote mental health awareness for our club, Active Minds. I\u2019ve been in the Vagina Monologues,<\/em> which was a fun experience, so I thought why not focus on mental health in a way that can get a lot of people involved? In November, we proposed the event to Counseling and Wellness Services and our advisor Mick Lynch. Then, rather than have one person write all the monologues, we put out a call for submissions written by WSU students, faculty and staff. That way it will be a more personal experience, and show everyone within the WSU community that mental wellness is something worth talking about.<\/p>\nGretchen:<\/strong><\/span> The monologues provide a nice format because people can anonymously submit their stories and somebody else\u2014a trained actor in the theater department or interested volunteers\u2014can be the one to tell their story. After reading a few of these stories, I can tell how cathartic it is for them to give their story. Thus the monologues become a collaborative event where we can understand each other\u2019s experiences and actually make a difference on campus. Creating awareness is very important but causing people to change their behavior is what really counts so it\u2019s our goal to make people aware but also that they connect with a story and get the help they need or find resources for a friend in need, and hopefully start a chain reaction of mental wellness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhat themes have you found in the monologue submissions?
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nAbbey:<\/strong><\/span> We have mostly anxiety, depression and eating disorder stories\u2014that seems to be a huge thing around our campus. Some of them are a little more \u201cthis is my life and I\u2019m happy with who I am\u201d and others are almost cursing at their mental illness about everything that has happened to them because of it while some are a mix of both. The main theme is really learning to live with a mental illness and getting the most you can out of life.<\/p>\nGretchen:<\/strong><\/span> What I find really interesting is that each story in any particular disorder category is so different and even people with the same disorder deal with it so differently. Of course, these people are not defined by their disorder\u2014that\u2019s another thing that we want to get across to the whole community\u2014but they are individuals who have so many different aspects of their lives. Another cool thing is that the writers are not just people with disorders, but they are siblings and friends of people with a mental illness and even counselors, which is great because counseling is also stigmatized. It\u2019s interesting to get all these different perspectives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhy did you want to join Active Minds?
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nGretchen:<\/strong><\/span> I became involved with Active Minds two years ago when my choir classmate Claire Stevens told me how she wanted establish a chapter at WSU. I just felt drawn to help because I\u2019ve had family members and friends with mental health issues but it\u2019s never talked about, and I think that silence is all too common.<\/p>\nAbbey:<\/strong><\/span> I was too busy to join when the club was forming, but it piqued my interest and I kept tabs on it. Then last semester I was invited to speak to the club members about my experience with mental illness. That was the first time I was able to have an open discussion about it with people I didn\u2019t know very well. They were so curious and receptive to my experiences that I realized there are other people like me and there are other people like them who want to learn more and make a difference. So I became one of them too, even though I am graduating soon, because I can see the club\u2019s full potential. That experience speaking to the club led me toward the Mental Health Monologues<\/em> because I wanted to share others\u2019 stories like I had shared mine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHas this influenced your career goals?
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nGretchen:<\/strong><\/span> Definitely. A lot of the stories we\u2019ve collected for the monologues show that peoples\u2019 mental disorders usually start in middle or high school so, as a future English high school teacher, I realize that these are going to be my students. My experience in the Mental Health Monologues<\/em> and Active Minds will help me be an advocate for my students, to be there for them when there\u2019s no one who they feel they can trust, and encourage kids to get help before it gets worse. I\u2019d even like to talk about it in a classroom to help stop the stigma of having a mental illness and say it\u2019s okay to go to counseling. Granted there is only so much I can do, but I know it will make my career more fulfilling.<\/p>\nAbbey:<\/strong><\/span> I\u2019m not sure if this has influence my career goals or if my career goals have pushed me to get involved but my first interest with psychology was when my first psych teacher explained how a neuron worked. It\u2019s just a signal on and off, and somehow those sequences create consciousness which really intrigued me. Throughout my academic career I\u2019ve learned more about how the brain works and I find it fascinating that most the treatments for mental illnesses involve changing something biological in the brain, like a chemical imbalance. A lot of people\u2013even people with mental illness\u2014 don\u2019t grasp that it\u2019s not their fault, that it\u2019s something they can\u2019t control and that it\u2019s not a defect in character at all. That\u2019s why I\u2019d like to be a researcher or a clinical psychologist\u2014 I\u2019m kind of in between right now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWho has influenced you the most?
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nGretchen:<\/strong><\/span> The only person who is coming to my mind is my mom. She is a very strong, independent, fierce woman who just always did what was right\u2014I guess that\u2019s kind of a mom thing. Even though we don\u2019t have a lot of similar interests, she is a strong role model for me and I really admire how she won\u2019t take no for answer.<\/p>\nAbbey:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 Similarly, the first person in mind was my mother for the drive and ambition that I have gotten from her. She\u2019s been there to push me through a lot of hard times but has also helped me realize that no one else defines me but me, and I should do what makes me happiest. She has shown me that I am more capable than I thought and also the value of being passionate about what you want to do in life and how far that passion can take you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nIf you could invite anyone to sit on\u00a0this bench\u00a0and have a conversation, who would it be and what would you talk about?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nAbbey:<\/strong><\/span> I am not very familiar with all the history, but I would really like to meet Martin Luther King Jr. and hear from him all the things he went through to further civil rights. He persevered despite getting so much backlash, and that just takes a strong will and a strong personality. I think it would be amazing to talk to him, learn his secrets, and then apply those secrets to my own life and make change in this world. I\u2019ve read his sermons and it seems like he gets it; he wants everyone to be at peace with each other because it\u2019s not an \u201cus vs. them\u201d thing but a \u201cwe\u2019re all in this together\u201d thing. I\u2019d like to see more of that in the world.<\/p>\nGretchen:<\/strong><\/span> For some reason, I keep thinking of Amy Poehler. I\u2019m absolutely obsessed with Parks & Recreation<\/em>, and from what I\u2019ve seen of her as an actual person, she seems to be this amazing feminist and amazing person. She created The Amy Poelher\u2019s Smart Girls which highlights how girls across the globe are improving the world, which I find so inspiring. Also, in her old comedy work, she is so about being herself and doing what you love and encouraging others to do the same which I really admire. So I\u2019d just get to know Amy Poehler and talk about her life and what she\u2019s doing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nInterviewed and Edited by Elizabeth Meinders ’15<\/span> and photographed by Anna Rae Butler ’15<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nTo nominate someone in the WSU\u00a0community \u2014 faculty, staff, student, alumni or friend of WSU \u2014 for Warrior Way<\/em>, or if you have other\u00a0feedback to share, please email Mollee Sheehan, director of web communications: msheehan@winona.edu<\/a>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”0|||” custom_padding_tablet=”50px|0|50px|0″ transparent_background=”off” padding_mobile=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on”][et_pb_fullwidth_portfolio include_categories=”8,9,10,11″ admin_label=”Fullwidth Portfolio” _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” auto=”on” auto_speed=”4000″] [\/et_pb_fullwidth_portfolio][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0Gretchen Haga ’16 & Abbey Hammell ’15 |\u00a0Raising Awareness Gretchen is a Student from Fargo, ND Spanish & English Education Majors Abbey is a Student from Rochester, MN Psychology & Spanish Majors “People are not defined by their disorder – we want to get that across to the whole community. They are individuals who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"project_category":[819],"project_tag":[],"class_list":["post-252","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-student"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4058,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/252\/revisions\/4058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/improving-our-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}