How to Help a Friend
At Colorado College, we value all members of our community and strive to create a positive, welcoming and supportive environment. Therefore, a key focus for the Wellness Resource Center is increasing campus capacities for intervening and supporting community members in distress to get appropriate support and assistance.
Peer Interventions are Powerful
When people are struggling with mental health concerns, they are often more receptive to interventions, information and help from their friends than from people they see as authorities. Although it is sometimes difficult to know what to say, it is better to talk to the person than to ignore the problem. There are many resources available to you to help you figure out how to have difficult conversations. Here on campus, you can talk to a Counselor in the CC Counseling Center, the campus Chaplains and the Director of the Wellness Resource Center. Additionally, there are student-run groups, like GROW and SPILL that offer peer support.
There are also some great on-line resources. The University of Melbourne's Orygen Youth Health Research Centre has developed a number of Mental Health First Aid Guidelines which provide helpful information about mental health symptoms, guidelines for intervening with someone you know, and strategies for helping a friend get professional help. Guidelines have been created for the following mental health issues:
CC Seniors Kathleen Carroll and Brian Wray have been honored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Colorado Springs (NAMI-CS) as Volunteers of the Year.
Kathleen and Brian have demonstrated their passion about the impact of mental illness and overcoming stigma by organizing events, training as NAMI-CS support group facilitators and updating the organization's website. In addition to their work with NAMI-CS, these committed students also started the campus organization, GROW, which leverages the profound impact that peer support can have for those struggling with mental health issues.