Submitted by Susan Grosoff, SSA/Counselor
A-B Tech's Counseling Department, in conjunction with the World Connections Committee, held "Test Your Moods," A-B Tech's third annual free mental health screening event Oct. 15 in the Coman Activity Center.
This year, 196 students filled out a short, anonymous questionnaire that assessed their likelihood for depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. This was an increase over last year's 184 participants. Participants also had the opportunity to meet with a volunteer community clinician to receive the results of their screening and speak with them about their own personal situations.
According to Dr. Deborah Harmon, Counseling Director, "Mental health issues on campuses nationally have seen steady increases over the past several years. We have great appreciation for the support of our local mental health practitioners and our student volunteers without whom this event would not have been possible. I applaud the outstanding work done by our outstanding counselors, Susan Grosoff, Annie Clingenpeel, and Peggy Bulla, who worked countless hours to offer this opportunity to our students."
Barbara Lea, Judith Pohl, Gerhild Dickerman, Jack Clement, Laura Yurko, Diane Voytek, Dan Cogswell, James Harrison, Marcia Davis, Joel Misler, Susan Crews, Walt Lawless, Amy Parish and Bob Hanna generously donated their time so that all participants could be seen by a mental health professional. NAMI (North Carolina's Voice on Mental Health) was also available to provide participants with information and community resources.
Clement, one of the volunteer clinicians commented, "the counseling department did a superb job organizing the mental health screening day at A-B Tech. The turnout was remarkable in terms of both students and local mental health professionals who donated their time to this worthy cause." Yurko, another clinician remarked, "I thought it was a marvelous event and was very organized."
Tracy Mixson, a representative of the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), said NAMI was honored to be a part of the screening events. "NAMI Western Carolina had a display for its bipolar disorder support group, and it drew attention from a lot of students and faculty members. Many were who stopped by either are challenged by the illness or have friends or family members with it - some were even screened that day and advised to seek further treatment for the disorder, and that also brought them over," Mixson said. "It was great to be able to offer people immediate peer support and information about our groups, as well as to encourage them not to ashamed or afraid to ask for help, because treatment works - but only if you get it."
Participants enjoyed Starbucks Coffee, pizza from Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers and bagels from Buddha Bagels while gaining valuable information about mental health and mental illness. Dr. Tim Reischman, Therapeutic Massage Chair, and the Therapeutic Massage students provided chair massages for all participants and everyone who was screened was also eligible to enter a raffle for a variety of prizes included two free passes to the Biltmore Estate.
Tech Talk is published by the Communications Office for employees and friends of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.
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