Most students don’t spend their days thinking and talking about suicide, but Allie Solomon does. Solomon, psychology senior, dedicates her time at the University to helping people with mental health issues. She volunteers at the THE PHONE, a 24-hour hotline at the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center, works at the Louisiana Office of Mental Health and helped found the Crisis Intervention Group student organization, for which she now serves as president. Because suicide is a difficult subject, Solomon had a hard time reaching students and gaining’ ‘ ‘ ‘ support for the Crisis Intervention Group’s message of suicide prevention. To appeal to a wider audience, Solomon decided to change CIG into a chapter of Active Minds Inc., a national nonprofit organization dedicated to altering the conversation and stigma of mental health issues on college campuses. Solomon’s mission to help others stemmed from her personal experience with mental illness. ‘I’ve had three suicides in my family,’ she said. ‘My cousin, who I was really close with, killed himself exactly a year after his father, my uncle, committed suicide.’ Solomon said she struggled with a severe eating disorder and depression and went to in-patient care at an eating disorder facility in high school. Solomon said her personal experience with suicide, depression and other mental health issues drove her passion to help people with similar issues. Marc Peters, Active Minds chapter coordinator, said more than 1,100 students are lost to suicide each year. ‘On a national level, we try to amplify the student voice,’ Peters said. ‘If there’s really going to be a real change in how mental health is talked about or dealt with, then students will have to play an active role.’ Peters said the organization has 242 chapters across the U.S. and Canada. Solomon’s Active Minds chapter will be the first in Louisiana. Peters said Active Minds advocates awareness on mental health disorders like depression, eating disorders and bipolar disorder to mental health concerns like day-to-day anxiety and stress. Solomon said students will feel comfortable about getting involved because Active Minds includes stress and anxiety as mental health issues. Currently, the pending Active Minds student organization has five dedicated members. ‘For a student organization to be successful, especially when it’s as controversial as this, you have to build a strong foundation,’ Solomon said. ‘I’m hoping to establish a link between Active Minds, the student body and the Student Health Center.’ Kathy Saichuk, Wellness Education coordinator at the Student Health Center, said because it is a difficult topic to talk about, people tend to ignore mental illness. ‘If you go back historically and traditionally, if someone had a mental health problem years ago they ended up in an institution,’ Saichuk said. ‘Suicide is still not something we understand or are comfortable with. For someone who’s never been that severely depressed, it’s hard to grasp how you get to that point where you felt life was worthless.’ Saichuk said she hopes Active Minds will spread the word of the resources available on campus like the Health Center’s Wellness Education program and Mental Health Service. Solomon plans to involve Active Minds in various mental health events on campus. She said Active Minds plans to attend Wellness Education’s events during the National Eating Disorders Awareness Week in February, the Wellness Fair in March and the Student Organization Fair in Free Speech Alley on Feb. 3. ‘Even though I have a personal stake in this, it’s not just for people who are personally affected,’ Solomon said. ‘Active Minds is for anyone who’s interested in helping, learning and leading.’ — Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]