YORK COUNTY, Pa. — An event meant to bring light to the growing need for mental health and suicide prevention awareness made its way to Penn State York on Tuesday.
Students, staff and local organizations gathered for the IMALIVE Mental Health Fair. The 4-hour long event brought representatives from organizations such as Family First Health and Penn State Counseling Services, directly to students outside The Ruhl Student Community Center.
Students were given then given information on identifying mental illnesses and seeking treatment.
Dozens of students made their way through the various booths at the event, gathering information and participating in the "Share a Secret" board among other various activities.
One of those students included on-campus mental health advocate, sophomore Avery Volz.
"For me, I've actually struggled with my mental health in the past, and everyone deserves to feel loved and accepted and understood," said Volz.
She added that events like these are refreshing on campus, allowing herself and her peers to be more open about potential mental health issues.
"Mental health should be as important as physical health," Volz started. "Like when people say 'oh, I'm going to the gym' and I say 'oh, I'm going to a therapy appointment' there shouldn't be any difference between those things."
Volz said in an attempt to break the stigma around campus, she helps creates a monthly message board with the Student Governments' Educational and Equity Committee to bring mental health awareness to light. They take it to a different building each week to make sure it reaches a wider audience.
The IMALIVE mental health fair then finished with a presentation from the organization's President and Founder, Reese Butler.
Butler started IMALIVE years after becoming a pioneer in the mental health field. He says he was moved to become involved in the mental health field following the death of his wife, Kristin Brooks, when she died by suicide in 1998.
"She was the least likely person, I would've thought, would die by suicide," said Butler. "I went to school basically on why people would kill themselves, I believed all the myths people sometimes still believe to this day, and what I learned was her suicide was one of the most preventable forms of death, and almost all suicides are preventable."
Before starting IMALIVE, Butler founded the 1-800-SUICIDE number, which is now known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
"[Suicide] is the 2nd leading cause of death for college-aged students," Butler said when asked why the IMALIVE fairs specifically visit college and university campuses. "Second, they have [the] budget to bring us in. If we could do this for free at every college in America, we'd do it tomorrow... It really needs to be done at the middle school level and the high school level as well," Butler added.
The IMALIVE fair travels to different campuses nationwide, and will visit Penn State Berks on April 20th. You can see the full schedule here.
You can find more information on mental health resources in South Central Pennsylvania here.