The newly established University Health and Wellness Task Force organized the first ever Well-Fest to raise awareness about the mental health resources available to students. The event was held on the Freshman Quad on Friday, Sept. 9, with various groups setting up tables to showcase their services.
Faculty and students greeted everyone who walked up to their tables, offering candy, informational handouts and a variety of relaxation activities. Yoga mats were also laid out on the quad with instructors for interested students. An assortment of balloons could be filled with sand and made into stress balls. Additionally, more tables were laid out with free healthy snacks and cold drinks.
There was a booth where students could write down affirmations that provide reassurance during difficult times. Another station allowed students to make S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based) to guide them towards better mental wellness. There was also a suggestion box for students to give input to the counseling center regarding mental health issues on campus.
Alexander (AJ) Tsang, the SGA representative on the Mental Health Task Force, explained the reasons behind Well-Fest’s inception as well as the collective effort behind its organization.
“Well-Fest was a collaborative effort between the University’s new Mental Health Task Force and the various mental health resources in the University,” Tsang wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter. “Over the summer, the Task Force coordinated with Active Minds, APTT [A Place to Talk], the Rec Center, Stressbusters, CHEW [Center for Health Education Wellness], Dining and the Counseling Center to compose a festival to enhance awareness of JHU’s existing mental health resources and accept students’ feedback on how to improve mental health across the university.”
The Mental Health Task Force was initially assembled in March 2015 in response to the student body’s request that the University more thoroughly address issues of mental health. The group is composed of undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty from a wide range of academic areas.
Tsang outlined the purpose of the new task force and the ways it will build on information collected from students to increase advocacy for mental health.
“[Well-Fest] was also designed to spread the word about the Task Force’s mental health survey, which will play a crucial role in empirically identifying — and ultimately, ameliorating — the sources of mental health issues on campus,” Tsang wrote. “The Task Force is aiming to compile the data from the online survey and in-person listening sessions by the end of the semester so that work on drafting a more formal report can begin.”
Katherine Jones, a counseling center staff member, spoke to the overarching goals of the event.
“The overall aim of the event is to raise awareness about mental health and give techniques to manage stress, and resources to manage stress, and also fun activities,” Jones said. “Each of our tables goes along with this year’s theme, which is ‘Be Well, Live Well, Do Well.’”
Staff members at the event spoke to participants about future mental health related events on campus such as group exercise classes at the Recreation Center, peer listener events by APTT and massage sessions by the Stressbusters.
Senior Sophie Mancini, a member of the new Mental Health Task Force, explained the importance of the mental health initiative and how it will benefit the student body.
“The number of people who fall into states of terrible mental health at this school is alarming. It’s even more alarming how the majority of students do not know about the resources offered here to help combat that,” Mancini said. “Feedback received spanned from kids not know where the counseling center was to reports of three week waiting periods for appointments. That’s why I’m so excited to be on the Mental Health Task Force. For the first time the school is giving us a direct opportunity to improve it.”
Tsang spoke to the positive reaction students had been showing to the event, and its widespread popularity with students and professors alike.
“The event was a definite success. The Task Force collected mental health feedback from a plethora of students,” Tsang wrote. “The Task Force also disseminated more information about itself so that students could be better informed about how it’s analyzing the aspects of mental health at JHU. The event was so widespread that a couple of humanities professors from Gilman came over to share their stories about mental health and its effects on their students.”
Tsang added that the event created a platform on campus for the discussion on mental health moving forward.
“Overall, the discussions were quite positive and we gleaned a lot of fantastic feedback that will be beneficial for the Task Force’s work this year,” he wrote.
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