Today, November 19, I attended a workshop at the counseling center concerning suicide prevention. Madhavi and I tried to make it to the one at 1:00 but, unfortunately, we were told that it was completely full and that they’d be giving another at 2:30 at the counseling center across the street. This meant that we’d have to miss ecology lecture but we knew we needed this workshop to fulfill our ‘Personal Enrichment’ workshop category, so we went anyway. After taking a creepy elevator ride to the 9th floor in a building we’d never been in before, we watched a 25 minute video that centered on a few college students who either knew someone who committed suicide or attempted suicide themselves. I personally found the video kind of disturbing. Sure, we all feel stress, but it is eye-opening to hear stories of young people who just completely crumbled under pressure to the point of no return. It’s also sad to hear stories of people who displayed clear signs of negative behavior and the people around them were blind to those signs. It teaches everyone a very important lesson: don’t ignore your friends/family members when they depict a sudden change in mood or personality and don’t be afraid to probe. Sure, they may get mad at you at first for ‘interfering’ in their lives, but ultimately, they will thank you. Some people just don’t realize that there is always an open ear to rely on when you simply need to vent, and that there are counseling centers ready to aid you with whatever you need. Sometimes, all it takes to relieve stress is to know that there are other people who’ve got your back. After the video, a few of the doctors/directors from the counseling center sat down with us and asked us questions concerning our feelings about counseling in general and about the causes of suicide. Being that mental illness is such a taboo in our society, everyone is pretty much reluctant to talk about it in public, so no one really volunteered any information when asked. I found myself forcing nods and mhm’s to make up for the awkward silence, and in turn, the doctor’s statements were pretty much directed to me because they thought I was actually enthusiastic about what they were saying. No good deed goes unpunished, they say! Ha. Honestly, I wish I could’ve gone to the stress & anxiety workshops they had instead of this one, but I’m glad I got this workshop over with.