When Engineering senior
Aria Thakore and LSA senior
Aastha
Dharia
roomed
together as freshmen at the
University of Michigan, they
noticed a lot of their peers
struggled with the transition
to college, turning to their
friends or to other students
for advice.
“We always wanted to be
that ear for them,” Dharia
said. “But it was really hard
to
sometimes
have
those
conversations without having
had those experiences.”
As
the
year
went
on
and more of their friends
reached out to them, Thakore
and Dharia said it became
increasingly
difficult
to
support their friends while
also maintaining their own
well-being. But it wasn’t until
Thakore
went
home
that
April that she realized it had
become too much to manage
on her own.
“I checked my phone and I
had nine text messages from
nine different people, asking
for peer support,” Thakore
said. “It was that moment
where I was like ‘I’m at home,
I’m walking my dog, I want a
moment to myself and I can’t
manage this anymore.’”
From there, Thakore and
Dharia,
along
with
their
friends
from
high
school
LSA senior Sheily Shah and
Public Health senior Swathi
Sampath, began working on
a
nonprofit
organization,
hEARt Listens, to address this
need.
“It was really weird to have
so many people talking about
the same problem,” Shah said.
“But it was like a never-ending
conversation.
There
wasn’t
any solution to it.”
The hEARt Line, which
officially launched Feb. 10,
was their solution. The text
line is open noon to midnight
every
day
of
the
week,
and students can send an
anonymous text at any time
and get connected with a
trained peer supporter within
48 hours. The process is free
and open to all University of
Michigan Ann Arbor campus
students.
“We were able to figure
out that students really like
turning
to
other
students
first,” Dharia said. “Students
also want to be able to help
other students, but it was
really hard for them to know
how to do that while also
prioritizing their own well-
being.”
Before becoming a peer
supporter,
students
have
to go through a semester
of training, which consists
of weekly sessions focused
on different skills such as
motivational
interviewing,
navigating
resistance
and
how to tackle difficult issues
such as sexual assault. The
founders worked with Social
Work
professor
Lindsay
Bornheimer to develop this
training program.
According
to
peer
supporter LSA senior Divya
Gumudavelly, once students
text the helpline, they are
connected
with
a
trained
peer
supporter
who
feels
comfortable
navigating
the
particular
topic
of
conversation.
“(Having peer supporters)
eliminates
the
power
structure that can sometimes
exist between someone who
is seeking help and someone
who is trying to offer help,”
Gumudavelly
said.
“You’re
talking to somebody who is
coming from a place that is,
hopefully, somewhat similar
to yours because at the end of
the day, we’re all the same age
and we’re all students.”
To get a better idea of the
mental
health
climate
on
campus, the four founders
spent nearly a year talking
to students across campus to
assess their needs. They found
many students felt current
resources were difficult to
access, and they were not
aware of all of the possible
resources available to them.
“There
have
been
times when it’s been very
disheartening,” Sampath said.
“It’s kind of hard to keep going
through the process hearing
about how present a lot of the
issues and challenges that we
faced or our peers faced really
(are) on campus.”
The
founders
worked
with
Christine
Asidao,
associate
director
of
community engagement and
outreach for Counseling and
Psychological
Services,
as
well as other resources such
as
the
Spectrum
Center,
Sexual
Assault
Prevention
and Awareness Center and
Wolverine Wellness to ensure
hEARt Listens is a known
and available resource for all
students. The founders said
the nonprofit also serves as a
gateway to other resources on
campus.
“We spend workshops just
talking about other resources
on campus we can direct
(students) to,” Gumudavelly
said. “This is another reason
I really like hEARt, because
it’s not trying to reinvent the
wheel.”
Public Policy senior Hannah
Connors
is
the
executive
director
of
Wolverine
Support Network, a student
organization
on
campus
focused on creating an inclusive
community for students. Like
hEARt Listens, WSN is a peer-
based resource.
According to Connors, there
is a lot of research that speaks
to the effectiveness of peer
support, especially for young
people, who tend to go to their
peers first. WSN offers weekly
support groups but does not
currently
have
the
online
component that the hEARt
Line provides.
“I think it’s an amazing idea
because texting is probably
the least intimidating form
of communication,” Connors
said. “I think it’s really going
to
benefit
students
who
might
feel
too
intimidated
to make a counseling center
appointment.”
Though the idea for hEARt
Listens started their freshman
year, now that the four founders
are seniors, they are working
on passing the leadership role
on to younger students.
LSA freshman Nidhi Tigadi
is one of the students stepping
up to leadership in hEARt
Listens.
2 — Thursday, February 20, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Lauren @laurboh
Now feels like a good time to remind everyone who told me to stop
complaining about and booing Mike Bloomberg’s commencement speech at
my Umich graduation: I told you so
Bridgette Carr
@Bridgette_Carr
@Umich is in the news right now
for cases of sexual misconduct.
My hope is that we can be in
the news for dismantling the
systems that allowed this abuse
to take place. One key step is to
include survivors in the process.
Can we rise to be the Leaders
and Best? I hope so.
Elayna @elaynaswift
my biggest pet peeve is when
people call umich “michigan
university”, especially if you go
here??
Neil Lewis Jr.
@NeilLewisJr
45 years later, Black student
enrollment at Michigan is
*checks notes* 5%
Jenny Siegel @jennysiegel2
the only reason I want
Airpods is so I’m not
embarrassed in Ross
anymore. seriously, I feel like
I’m being shamed #umich
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