W Counseling Center hosts fifth annual Mental Health Fair

Mississippi University for Women’s Counseling Center will host its fifth annual Mental Health Fair Tuesday, Oct. 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the W Room at Hogarth Student Center with lunch at noon.

The goal of the event is to inform individuals of the many wellness resources that are available to them. This year the event is booked full with 33 vendors and organizations who want to help.

“The event is aimed at showcasing all the mental health resources that are available to students, staff and faculty both on campus and off campus,” said Kimberly Davis, a licensed mental health therapist at The W’s counseling center.

The fair is aimed at improving people’s wellbeing and providing the resources they need to do so no matter what area they need help with.

“Our mental health and wellness fair concentrates on many areas of wellness.” said Davis. “For example, emotional, social, physical, financial, academic, career building and spiritual (wellness) are a few areas that will be represented at our event.”

Active minds, a student organization sponsored by the counseling center that promotes mental health awareness, will be at the event. They have helped plan the fair and will assist other organizations with setup.

Another goal of the fair is to “stomp out the stigma,” as in make people see the importance of mental health and taking care of themselves in a different light.

“We don’t want people to feel bad for coming to see us,” said Davis. “They should see it as more of self-care. You’re doing yourself a favor, you’re taking care of yourself, and that, hopefully, will kind of break that stigma.”