Students and faculty who spoke at the ASI’s event “Speak Your Mind” open mic night touched the hearts of those who attended with their shared testimonies and encouraging messages.

Michelle Nungoray (senior, Criminal Justice Major) and ASI Vice President, described how she brainstormed the idea of the open mic night, “Mental health is one of the initiatives as the Vice President. It’s very important to me and it’s very personal. I feel it’s not really talked about…I was working on advocating for PCS in the beginning, I met with all the counsellors and directors to see what needed to be done. From there I started working with our ASI marketing team to revamp the fliers to make it more appealing to students” Michelle shared.

Chelsie Muro (junior, Liberal Studies) shared a powerful poem written by her friend Angelica Maghinay (senior, English and Philosophy) and brought the words to life. “In the beginning, it was just cathartic. To be honest it was me trying to get out my experiences. But in writing it for someone to perform, I know it’s providing another medium to reach people. It was me supporting her but also me supporting anyone else who has ever felt this way and has never really felt they had the voice to say it” Angelica said.

Some counsellors that work on campus shared their goals and how important it is to match their patients well.

Julia Rosas-Nieto, L.M.F.T, Counselor detailed the three steps of choosing support, “The therapeutic relationship, which is the relationship between the student or the client and the therapist and when you are choosing that therapist I usually tell my students that I usually compare it to shoes… It applies similarities to a therapist. Make sure that you’re comfortable in talking with the therapist because if you don’t the treatment won’t be as effective, you need to make sure you like the style of the therapist…every therapist uses a different art and a science component…and lastly the fit” she said.

Students that attended left feeling more empowered and encouraged like Alicia Pantoja (senior, Nursing) who described the event, “I think that it brings a broad spectrum of students…there are no one student that’s alike and no one has the same story and it brings a lot more awareness to what mental health is and just to show its okay to show your emotions or tell people how you feel…we are in a competitive society where you’re just working, working, working and you’re not supposed to feel sad, you’re not supposed to feel angry or anything” Alicia said.

The topic of mental health did promote an idea to enhance the schools counselling programs, “Advocating. Our school is very diverse… we want to bring more coloured counsellors just for students to better relate. I feel it’s necessary to have this resolution coming” Michelle Nungoray added.

In the near future, “Speak Your Mind” will again be providing a platform and safe space for students to say what they need to say.