Mental Health NDSU

Mental Health NDSU is gearing up for its second year of classes, presentations and screenings. These events coincide with Mental Illness Awareness Week, an ideology of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The U.S. Congress declared the first full week in October to be dedicated to mental illness awareness in recognition of N.A.M.I’s efforts.

Mental Health NDSU features events to help students, faculty and staff learn how to handle things like stress and depression, also featuring a national screening event.

The Counseling Center will give tours of their facility from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday in Ceres 212.

Bill Burns, director of the Counseling Center, said that the center has been remodeled recently, and that this is a good chance for students to check out the facilities.

Burns also said Brinkley, the center’s therapy dog, will visit.

The center will host a DeStress Fest from 3 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday in the Wellness Center. Burns said that there were more DeStress Fests during last year’s event, but decided to narrow down and only offer one this year.

At the DeStress Fest, students can come to learn ways to handle and dispel their stress. Handouts and other resources will be available as well.

Three or four therapy dogs from the area will also be present at the DeStress Fest.

On Thursday and Friday, the center will hold multiple depression screenings.

Depression screenings are held annually across the nation during Mental Illness Awareness week, and Burns said that NDSU has participated since their initiation in 1991.

On Thursday, screenings will be offered in the following places: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Memorial Union between the Student Activities Office and Student Government Office; 3 to 5 p.m. in the Wellness Center; and 3 to 5 p.m. in the ACE Tutoring Center.

On Friday, there will be one screening offered from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Barry Hall Atrium.

The screening gives students a measure of how depressed they are feeling at that moment. If a student scores exceptionally high on the screening, a counselor will sit down and talk with them about options for dealing with depression.

All students, faculty and staff are welcome to attend all three of these events.

If anyone feels uncomfortable with the group-like setting of Mental Health NDSU but is interested in what the Counseling Center offers, they are welcome to contact the center to set up an initial assessment with a counselor.

The Counseling Center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.

The center has eight full-time counselors and seven graduate students on staff. A psychiatrist also visits the center two days a month and is available to students for a subsidized fee.

The center offers many counseling programs for singles, groups or couples and there are no session limits at this time.

For more information about the Counseling Center and Mental Health NDSU, visit http://www.ndsu.edu/counseling/.