Cosumnes River College on Wednesday held their first Mental Health resource fair, which featured different ways to handle mental health.
The fair included information booths that were located at the east entrance of the library and were hosted by campus and community programs. The event also featured a presentation about mental health at the Winn Center.
“We wanted to highlight the on-campus and off-campus resources available to students, because I feel like a lot of the time, I can speak for myself as a student and undergrad, I didn’t know what was available to me,” said HSI/MI CASA Director Gladis Sanchez.
Sanchez talked about the many programs there are available to students which were: APIDA H.A.W.K.S., Center for Inclusion and Belonging, CRC Athletics, CRC Counseling, DSPS, HAWK CARES, Mental Health & Wellness Services, MI CASA, Pride Center, Student Life and Leadership Center, TRIO SSS SOAR/STEM, Black Student Success Center, Veterans Resource Center, WEAVE, La Familia Counseling and the Youth Help Network.
“Self-care looks different for everybody and that’s what we’re just trying to make folks understand, whatever works for you is what we want you to promote,” Sanchez said. “There’s a community of support available to all students here.”
Rosie Rosas, who worked at the booth for La Familia Counseling, said she really likes how CRC’s campus and community support programs are hosting an event for mental health awareness for students and also appreciated how they can speak multiple languages.
“It’s not only in English, it’s bilingual,” Rosas said. “Sometimes we wanted someone to understand our language so that’s wonderful.”
Marriage and family therapist Adriana Rodriguez was the presenter at the Winn Center and talked about how big of a role community plays in mental health.
“We are community people, we need each other in order to be able to thrive,” Rodriguez said. “This hyper-independence that we have really elevated for years and years has actually been harming us a lot.”
Rodriguez talked about the stigma surrounding mental health and encouraged anyone who is or isn’t struggling with their mental health to consider getting help and not wait until something bad happens to them in order to get that help.
Sanchez said she thought it was wonderful for CRC to host an event like this.
“It’s important to have those conversations because we can not say that we are supporting students at the intersection of who they are if we leave a part of who they are out the window,” Sanchez said. “Sometimes things are difficult and that’s okay, knowing support is available is the number one goal for me.”