health & wellness »
More Than Just
A Broken Arm
I
was 12 years old the first time I
has progressed and become a passion,
broke my arm. The next school
I am becoming more comfortable
day, I walked into class and all of
telling my story, asking others theirs,
my friends ran over to sign my bright
facilitating small group discussions
orange cast, ask how I was doing
and talking about internal pain.
and reassure me that they were there
But sadly, I am in the minority. Far
should I need anything.
too many students experience
I was 13 years old when I
isolation as part of and as a
was officially diagnosed with
result of their internal pain,
an extreme case of anxiety
having nobody who will run
disorder. Nobody ran over
over to offer a helping hand.
to ask how was I doing or to
If we can create a campus
reassure me they were there
community that fosters accep-
should I need anything. It
tance and understanding of all
was not something people
forms of illness and encourages
Sierra Stone students to discuss issues that
openly talked about.
Commentary
I was 18 years old and in
cover all aspects of the mental
I was comfortable talking about any visible
pain I was feeling on the outside. I was not
comfortable talking about the invisible pain
I was feeling on the inside
the middle of my freshman year of col-
lege the second time I broke my arm.
I walked into my sociology discussion
the next day and several students ran
over to ask how I was doing and reas-
sure me they were there should I need
anything.
Around that same time, my anxiety
was growing day by day and I couldn’t
have been more unhappy. I felt iso-
lated, alone and sad. Nobody was
asking me how I was doing or reassur-
ing me they were there should I need
anything. It was not something people
openly talked about.
I was comfortable talking about
any visible pain I was feeling on the
outside. I was not comfortable talking
about the invisible pain I was feeling
on the inside. I felt ashamed, embar-
rassed and disgraced.
This stigma, the stigma about men-
tal health, plays a negative role in my
life and in the lives of far too many
college students and others — even
from a young age. Only recently has
the discussion of mental health and
wellness become something we talk
about openly.
As I have continued through col-
lege and my work with mental health
advocacy, as an incoming Wolverine
Support Network director and Central
Student Government representative,
42 March 31 • 2016
health spectrum, then maybe — just
maybe — one fewer college student
will become a statistic.
I believe that we need to have open
discussion and dialogue about mental
health through this aforementioned
mutual understanding.
Thanks to the Internet and social
media outlets, our generation, unlike
any other before us, has access to the
world. We have the platform and an
audience at our fingertips to speak
with about issues that formerly were
not openly talked about.
Because of this advantage, we should
make it our mission to take the endless
resources available to us and work to
shatter this stigma.
It is our duty to be the change, to
take a stand and to continue to write
the stories of those who are affected by
mental health disorders, because fail-
ure to do so could be putting people’s
lives on the line.
Let’s start treating mental health
like we treat a bright orange cast on
the arm of a 12-year-old. If not now,
when? If not us, who?
*
Sierra Stone of West Bloomfield is a Wolverine
Support Network director and Central Student
Government representative at the University
of Michigan. This essay first appeared on the
Michigan Daily website.