{"id":29038,"date":"2014-04-02T06:29:29","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T10:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=29038"},"modified":"2014-03-31T08:29:47","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T12:29:47","slug":"life-support-wright-state-to-host-suicide-awareness-event-featuring-traveling-display-of-backpacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2014\/04\/02\/life-support-wright-state-to-host-suicide-awareness-event-featuring-traveling-display-of-backpacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Life support: Wright State to host suicide awareness event featuring traveling display of backpacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Backpacks<\/a>

Backpacks representing college students who have taken their own lives will grace the grounds of Wright State on April 7 to raise awareness of mental health issues on campuses.<\/p><\/div>\n

The backpack. Part of a college student\u2019s uniform. Carrying textbooks, notebooks, laptops and even ramen noodles, it hangs on the same shoulders often burdened with frustrations, fears and pain.<\/p>\n

On Monday, April 7, backpacks representing the 1,100 U.S. college students who take their own lives each year will grace the grounds of Wright State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them are personal donations from families who have lost their daughters and sons to suicide,\u201d said co-organizer Jeevitha Kempegowda, president of the Wright State chapter of Active Minds, a student organization open to all students.<\/p>\n

The traveling display of backpacks is part of \u201cSend Silence Packing.\u201d It is an event organized by the university chapter of Active Minds, whose mission is to eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness on college campuses.<\/p>\n

The backpacks\u2014which come in a rainbow of colors and some of which include personal messages\u2014will blanket the university.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to literally lay them out on campus,\u201d said co-organizer Jason Weisman. \u201cIt\u2019s very powerful visually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Active Minds was founded by Alison Malmon when she was a junior at the University of Pennsylvania following the suicide of her older brother, Brian.<\/p>\n

Brian, also a college student, had experienced depression and psychosis for three years but had concealed his symptoms from everyone around him. On March 24, 2000, he ended his life.<\/p>\n

Weisman, a student in the School of Professional Psychology, said college students have often grown up wrapped in the security blanket of their parents and friends and then are thrust onto a college campus far from home, where they face the pressure of academics, a job and trying to make new friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat starts to create the perfect storm,\u201d Weisman said. \u201cAs straws are continually added to that person\u2019s back, it just becomes unbearable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The backpack event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is designed to put a face on suicide and raise awareness about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could be you, this could be your friends, this could be your girlfriend or your boyfriend,\u201d said Weisman. \u201cWe\u2019re not doing this because we want to scare folks. But it would be wrong for us to have something so relevant and so dangerous go unnoticed and unchecked.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wright State chapter of Active Minds was founded in 2012 and has previously sponsored events to raise awareness about eating disorders and the effects of stress. With about 15 active members, the group also has its own radio show\u2014on Wednesdays from noon to 1 p.m. on WWSU 106.9 FM.<\/p>\n

The Wright State chapter incorporates diversity and multiculturism into its events, addressing the stigma in different cultures attached to mental illness.<\/p>\n

Wright State is the only university in Ohio hosting \u201cSend Silence Packing\u201d this year. Chapters of Active Minds from other schools have been invited to take part.<\/p>\n

Kempegowda, also a student in the School of Professional Psychology, said she hopes the event encourages students to speak more openly about mental health issues and seek help if they need it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is all of this help,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to help.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Backpacks representing the 1,100 U.S. college students who take their own lives each year will grace the Wright State grounds on April 7 to raise awareness of mental health issues on campuses. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":29053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,729,725,715,2407],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-around-campus","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news","category-professional-psychology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29038"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29137,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29038\/revisions\/29137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}