 "Photo: Maxx Scholten/The Daily Texan")
“Get help or be help” was the mantra at last night’s suicide-prevention event where students wrote the word “love” on each others’ arms.
Jamie Tworkowski, founder of the nonprofit To Write Love on Her Arms, walked onstage to tell the audience about the organization’s mission of raising awareness about treatment for those suffering from depression.
“It’s a privilege to be handed a microphone and talk about things that people don’t normally talk about,” Tworkowski said.
He recounted his personal experiences with friends who committed suicide or came close and what he learned through their journeys.
“Maybe don’t just love other people, but ask, ‘What does it mean to love me?’” Tworkowski said.
The event was directed to reach students from junior high through college battling suicidal thoughts and suffering from depression, addiction or self-destructive behavior.
Since the nonprofit‘s inception three years ago, the group’s members have raised about $500,000 for treatment of the mentally depressed across the country.
“It’s about realizing you’re not crazy or weak when you reach out for help,” said nursing senior Pamelagrace Okeke. “It’s more than just suicide. It’s about mental health issues that lead to suicide because people don’t care.”
With more than 40,000 students vying for the limited amount of resources UT offers, Okeke said students often get lost in the crowd.
“Everyone here is trying to get somewhere, and sometimes we lose sight of people to our left and to our right,” she said.
Okeke said the workload and stress from challenging classes that some students endure can also affect mental well-being.
“You get people burnt out, really mad, thinking they’re not good enough,” Okeke said. “Many students use drinking as their escape from school and that can lead to alcohol abuse.”
The Counseling and Mental Health Center gave out information at the event on the resources it offers, showing students paths they could follow to begin lifting themselves out of depression or self-destructive behavior.
Martin Coffman, an English and business freshman, said that with a social environment as daunting as UT’s, counseling outlets need to be made readily available.
“There are many people who haven’t talked to anyone today,” Coffman said. “It’s a lot easier to not seek out and love those people.”
Psychology junior Ashley White said she and her friends are in the process of starting a UT chapter of the organization.
“It would be a group of your peers, so people don’t feel like they have no one to talk to,” she said.
