verified participants
Participation was documented through activity cards collected when gifts were distributed.
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PRACTICE STORY 04 · CAMPUS MENTAL-HEALTH ACCESS
Making mental-health support easier to approach.
In May 2021, I served as a co-facilitator for a campus mental-health culture festival developed with student departments and the university counseling center. The event was designed to reduce stigma, strengthen mental-health literacy, introduce counseling resources, and offer a low-pressure first step toward professional support.
60-SECOND SUMMARY
- Situation
- Many students were reluctant or too busy to approach formal mental-health services during a weekday campus event.
- My Role
- Co-facilitator responsible for planning, team assignments, promotion, recruitment, and on-site coordination.
- Action
- Coordinated nearly 30 staff and about 10 stations, chose a high-traffic route, and designed brief entry points including education, anonymous stories, exercises, and counselor conversations.
- Outcome
- More than 200 participants were verified through collected activity cards. Students spoke with counselors and reported greater awareness of available support.
- Boundary
- Stories remained anonymous, exercises were non-diagnostic, and students needing more help received official counseling-center information.
staff members
A cross-department student team coordinated planning and delivery.
activity stations
Brief, approachable activities connected education, reflection, and professional resources.
We adapted the event around students’ limited time and the emotional threshold involved in approaching mental-health support.
Meet students where they are
A high-traffic route near academic buildings
Lower the time barrier
Many activities completed in one or two minutes
Create safe entry points
Anonymous stories and clearly non-diagnostic exercises
Connect to support
Counselor conversations and counseling-center information
I contributed to event planning, team assignments, promotion, recruitment, and on-site coordination across nearly 30 staff members and approximately 10 stations.
Because the festival took place during a weekday, many students could participate only between or after classes. We distributed flyers near academic buildings, placed the event along a high-traffic campus route, and designed many activities to take only one or two minutes.
Activities included mental-health information displays, brief interactive exercises, non-diagnostic self-assessments, an anonymous personal-story station, and opportunities to speak with university counselors. Students seeking more support received the counseling center’s contact information and website.
ENGAGEMENT & RESPONSE
More than 200 students participated. Students became more open to discussing mental health, engaged directly with counselors, and began proactively asking about counseling and health-education resources. Many said they better understood available campus support and would join future activities.
“Mental-health services cannot depend only on people independently deciding to seek help. Time, location, social atmosphere, and emotional effort all shape access. Bringing resources into an ordinary campus setting created a lower-pressure first step—and showed how cross-department collaboration can make professional support more approachable.”