Empowering Minds has become Southern’s first mental awareness club.
According to Nathan Martin, club president, the goal of the club is not to replace professional help but rather to provide a place of support and awareness. The club was introduced this summer.
“Our goal is simply to start a conversation and get people interested or aware of their own mental health. I am not a psychiatrist and we’re not a counseling service,” Martin said. “We are like the PSA commercials you see on TV — a method to spread awareness and get people thinking. With this said, we strongly encourage anyone facing hard times to go get the help they need by making an appointment with one of the on-campus counselors.”
The bimonthly meetings, often in a coffee shop, aim to provide a “community” where people can give advice and develop “courage to speak up,” as explained by Martin.
Social representative for the club, Brayden Viehmann, shared his goal for the club.
“I want people to know that there’s a club here that genuinely cares about each and every student and what they’re going through,” Viehmann said.
According to Viehmann, the club has received a positive reaction from various students.
Freshman corporate community wellness management major Megan Bentley is one of them.
“I think that’s really awesome [to have] a safe place where people can talk to people about different things that they are going through,” Bentley said. “Especially now [in college] because this is [a] hard time for some people’s lives; you know becoming an adult.”
Students can follow the club’s Instagram page @empowermind_sau to learn more about the dates, times and service opportunities.
