By Briana Keenan
Staff Writer
The College’s Counseling and Prevention Services (CAPS) program held an event highlighting student experiences with mental health on Nov. 16 called “Stigmonologues.” CAPS peer educators hosted and moderated the event.
Five speakers shared their individual experiences with mental health, and discussed topics such as verbal abuse, derealization and psychosis.
“I genuinely thought I was going insane,” said Persephone Holman, a junior history major.
Holman said that they have a dissociative disorder, which resulted from childhood abuse that they experienced. This led to memory loss and derealization.
“I forgot for a reason,” they said. “I’m grateful for that.”
According to Holman, the first time that their “brain turned off” was at age three, which is what they now recognize as derealization.
“I’m not fully healed,” they said. “But I do know that I can be happy despite that because I’m happy right now.”
Holman said that they were nervous to start therapy, but that it ended up being extremely beneficial. The type of therapy that they use is Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, which helps heal inner wounds and has even helped in gaining past memories back.
“I have had memories come back to me in the middle of a session,” they said.
Gio Adu-Gyamfi, a junior public health major, said that he experienced the same fear of reaching out for help after experiencing verbal abuse and bullying from his roommate freshman year. One specific instance that he shared was when his room called him the r-slur for stuttering.
“I should have gotten help, but I was afraid that he would find out,” he said.
Adu-Gyamfi also said that he would worry so much about schoolwork that he would not eat, and he even received compliments for the way he looked after losing weight. His parents said to him, “You look good, son.”
In order to honor those who are struggling, he takes photos of the sunset every night and leaves messages with encouraging notes around campus. The sunset photos are specifically in honor of his close friend that passed away.
“I want to help others,” he said. “Everyone deserves to be loved.”
Maia Leonard, a junior psychology major, shared a similar message at the end of their speech. They are also a CAPS Peer Educator.
“Look out for the people you care about,” they said.
Leonard shared that they struggled with their mental health for the majority of their life, but said their panic attacks started to intensify after their house burned down three days before the start of their freshman year at the College.
“Everything came to a hit,” they said.
During their speech, they also highlighted the importance of finding a support system that will be there even months after a tragic event happens. They felt supported within the first few weeks of their house burning down, but when they truly needed support was five months after the incident occurred.
“The community comes to support you in the first two weeks,” Leonard said. “Then they just kinda drop out.”
Juliana, a senior psychology major who preferred to only share her first name due to safety reasons, also discussed how people supported them during times of distress.
“You’re less alone than you actually think you are,” she said.
Juliana said she has psychosis disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that voices in her head were telling her to do actions in order to protect her family.
“I was told to write ‘apple’ as many times as I could on my iPad with my Apple pencil or something really bad would happen to me,” she said.
Like Adu-Gyamfi and Holman, Juliana shared that the biggest step is being able to ask for help.
“Accepting your mental illness is a whole different ball game,” she said.
This idea is often stigmatized by society amongst men. Thomas D’Agati, a junior marketing major and mental health chair of Phi Alpha Delta, spoke about men’s mental health in his speech and his thoughts on the stigma.
“Men’s mental health is very important to me,” he said. “Being strong is not about holding everything in.”
Although D’Agati said that they do not have a personal experience with mental health, they said that they think that advocating for mental health awareness is crucial because it is not talked about enough in society today.
“If you see anybody — not just a male — ask how they are,” he said. “It can really go a long way.”
