Finding you at the U to focus on depression

This year’s “Finding You at the U” event for female students will be held Tuesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. in the Bowld gym.

Many campus offices and groups are sponsoring the event including counseling services, university ministries, student leadership and engagement, residence life, mosaic, excel and panhellenic council.

The “Finding You at the U” committee seeks to provide a safe and open environment in which to discuss issues relevant to college women, according to Tamarin Huelin, part-time counselor and committee member.

“It gives us an opportunity to reach a lot of students with issues that most people don’t talk about and that are often difficult to talk about,” she said.

The chosen topic this year is depression. Melanie Taylor, ministry coordinator and committee member said she feels that this is an issue that all students deal with or relate to in some way.

“We know that our students are dealing with depression both personally and in their proximity to it,” she said. “We want to serve them well by proactively educating them rather than leaving them to figure things out on their own.”

“The goal of this event is to explain what depression is and give applicable ways of how you can navigate the journey of depression yourself or navigate the journey with a friend who is going through depression,” said Estelle Curtis, junior special education major. Curtis helped plan the event.

There will be viewings of clips from the documentary Depression: Out of the Shadows as well as a panel of speakers. The panel will include Union faculty and staff as well as three female students. The faculty and staff panelists will be Rhonda Hudson, professor of social work; Paul Mayer, director of health services;  Paul Deschenes, director of counseling services;  Justin Barnard, associate professor of philosophy and Tamarin Huelin.

Taylor said the “Finding You at the U” committee along with the event sponsors have high hopes for the night and want as many students who can to attend.

“I pray that this event can help debunk some of the myths and dispel some of the stigma associated with depression so that we can better serve our sisters that are affected by it,” Taylor said.

Huelin said caring for those who are suffering is something every Christian should make an effort to do.

“God wants us to care for those who are suffering and have compassion for those who are suffering as he has had compassion for us,” Huelin said.