Coming together and acknowledging mental health was the primary goal of honor society Psi Chi’s Inaugural Mental Health Symposium. 

The event was two days after World Mental Health Day on Oct. 12 in the Ronnie Williams Student Center ballroom.

Psi Chi faculty sponsor and psychology professor Shawn Charlton was one of the recognized speakers. Charlton is also President of the Board of Directors for Psi Chi and a committee co-chair for the Christian Ladd Hall Scholarship for Mental Health Advocacy.

“Tuesday was World Mental Health Day, and we do our events on Thursdays, so we had to just wait two days,” Charlton said. “The big goal for today is just raising conversation about mental health and what it means to really be thriving, but also to help have conversations within our communities about mental health and mental wellness.”

Charlton’s session centered around mental health advocacy and being able to have tough conversations within shared communities.

“I talked about being able to create spaces in which we can share how we’re doing,” Charlton said. “A big piece I was talking about is that we’re comfortable talking about our physical health, but we have this real hesitation to talk about mental health and empowerment. A big piece of what my conversation was is that we can all encourage conversations.”

This year’s Mental Health Symposium had 22 attendees check in on CubConnect, with more in attendance that were not counted.

With five sessions throughout the event, Charlton consistently had six attendees for each session he hosted.

Senior Sierra Puckett is a Psi Chi officer and secretary for the honor society. Puckett said students who attended were equipped with skills and strategies to improve their mental wellness and learned more about various aspects of mental health.

Some of the topics at the symposium covered becoming a mental health advocate, aligning values to increase overall wellness and supporting mental health for members of the BIPOC community.

“We had more turnout than we expected and students seemed to really enjoy the presentations,” Puckett said. “It is a very empowering event that not only gives us tools to improve our own mental health but it also helps us consider diverse perspectives on mental health and wellness.”

Puckett said her hopes for the event’s future are a larger attendance and more topics presented.

“My hope is that next year will also include diverse presentation topics that help us consider preemptive steps to mental wellness rather than just thinking about mental health in terms of disorders,” Puckett said.

Graduate student and Psi Chi Officer Parker Hamilton said he felt that the main goal of the symposium was to raise awareness for issues that surround mental health.

“There is still a stigma around it that isn’t talked about enough, so we felt that it was important to have some method of sharing information that is beneficial for the UCA community and its well-being,” Hamilton said. 

Hamilton said one of the main challenges with holding the symposium was scheduling. 

“Figuring out what the best method for each participant to hear each speaker they wanted to was tough,” Hamilton said. “There was a great turnout and we will definitely hold this again in the future.”

Psi Chi plans to host another mental health event this April.

“You do not have to attend each presentation to get the gist of everything,” Hamilton said. “You will not leave each presentation an expert, but you will learn some valuable knowledge and skills for the future. Into next year, we hope to advertise the event campuswide, as well as have some more interactive presentations and activities to do.”