Event Management, Dining, and Hospitality (EMDH) is partnering with Student Counseling Services, Health Promotion and Wellness, and Student Government Association to host Your Story Matters, a mental health and wellness awareness event at the Bone Student Center on Monday, September 11. Raising awareness of the importance of mental health is an important goal within the Division of Student Affairs. This event is an effort to raise this awareness and provide students with resources, information, and skills to help manage their mental health and wellness and support others.
Your Story Matters follows the launch of Redbird Well, an initiative through the Division of Student Affairs to promote wellness in all facets among students, faculty, and staff. Redbird Well provides students with resources to build skills around their health, help finding screening apps to help check in on their mental health, connections to mental health helplines, and much more.
This event will begin with activities surrounding mental health awareness including a brain station, share-a-secret activity, graffiti art, and fact or fiction game from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Following this, there will be a mental health and wellness resource fair with on-campus entities providing resources for all aspects of health including mental health, physical health, well-being, and more from 5-7 p.m. Both are open house style, and students are encouraged to come and go as they please. All activities throughout the day will take place in Brown Ballroom in the Bone Student Center.
Guest speaker Josh Rivedal will close the event by talking to students about the importance of investing in their mental health and self-care at 7 p.m. in Brown Ballroom. He will give students tools to recognize and help others in distress or crisis by using his own personal experiences to guide the speech. The presentation will help students understand some basics of mental health, coping and stress management strategies, how to cultivate resilience, and tips for self-care. There will be time at the end for a Q&A.
“I hope to provide a few laughs along with an uplifting message of hope and healing and tangible takeaways on mental health and well-being for ISU students!”
-Josh Rivedal, guest speaker
This is a free event. RSVP is not required but encouraged through Redbird Life. This event will cover topics of mental health, which may be sensitive or triggering for students. The activities taking place will be a positive promotion of mental health, and students are welcome to participate as much or as little as they feel comfortable with. For more information about Your Story Matters, please contact EMDH at EMDH@IllinoisState.edu.
