On Tuesday November 9th, PHA, IFC, and FSLSA hosted a mental health awareness event. This event was located in Glass Hall and also had a zoom option available to students. Senior Emily West, is the Director of Social Awareness on the Panhellenic Executive Board and she took lead in executing this event for the FSL community.  

 “I wanted to tie in IFC because when it comes to mental health issues, people never think of how they can relate to males,” West said. “I feel like that also adds to the stigma of mental health of not wanting to reach out and get help, so making sure that we are starting to break down that barrier so that guys know that mental health issues happen to anyone and it’s okay to get help. I decided to bring in FSLSA because they are all about furthering social awareness in our community.” 

 Tammy Dixion, from the Missouri State Counseling Center, was the speaker for this event and she discussed a holistic viewpoint of mental health with students. Dixion had previously spoken to the Pi Chi’s during PHA recruitment, which is how West knew she would be a great speaker for the event. The goal of this event was to reach everyone involved in the FSL community and express that it is crucial to take care of your own mental health, along with making sure those around you are supported with their mental health as well.  

 “As a senior, I have seen people go through freshman to senior year and they have their own struggles and I had my own struggles so I think that talking about it and not being afraid to talk about it makes a huge difference,” West said. “If it wasn’t for having the strong support system that the FSL community has, it would be hard to have this conversation. I think people have been open about it, but I am hoping that this conversation leads us to bettering as a whole and making sure people in our community are okay.” 

 Moving forward, the goal is to have the FSL community along with the Missouri State community be more engaged with conversations regarding mental health. Making sure that everyone is supported and taken care of is a priority, and the event was a step in the right direction of making this happen.