Chi Psi – Taking Mental Health Awareness Seriously
AOII’s Chi Psi Chapter (California Polytechnic University) *Trigger warning: Mentions of Anxiety and Sexual Assault
Many of our AOII Chapters do amazing work with women’s health and mental health awareness. The examples are endless. Chi Psi at California Polytechnic U shared their efforts to provide community, a sense of belonging, and meaningful sisterhood within the chapter through their mental health awareness efforts.
One of the most successful programs the chapter offers is a Weekly Anxiety Support Meeting. Members feel supported and the attendance has been unmatched since this began a year and a half ago. Their Health and Wellness coordinator makes herself available for members to reach 24/7 saying she is always willing to talk, especially when life becomes overwhelming, or someone is facing a hard time.
Chi Psi periodically reaches out with mental health check-ins via a response email. Members can voluntarily share their struggles giving them another outlet for support and someone will follow up to provide a shoulder to lean on. The chapter also prioritizes what they call Current Event Debriefs which is their way of offering time to discuss stressful or pressure packed issues in the news or what is happening on their own campus. Sexual assault issues were a hot topic this past year on their campus, so talking through their fears and frustrations helped to educate and empower the members to be proactive in their own safety.
Resources. Resources. Resources. Chi Psi is quick to lean on the outstanding resources available on their campus and encourages other chapters to investigate what is available. From mental health to safety and wellness, campus resources are a valuable addition to chapter programming. Their Let’s Talk Anything and Everything program targeting issues of sexual assault was one of several meaningful resources the chapter took advantage of at Cal Poly.
Additional resources can be found within our Safe Semester Campaign.
Words of Wisdom
