2008 Woodie Awards
Sorority brings Active Minds to campus
Kaitlin O'Reilly
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: News
Last semester, the first Conn. chapter of Active Minds, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about mental health among college students, was launched at Sacred Heart University.
"Young adults aged 18-24 have the highest prevalence of diagnosable forms of mental illness," according to Active Minds On Campus.
Nu Epsilon Omega sorority members, senior president Katie Savarese and junior Kaileen Paiva, along with senior Jenna Morales launched the chapter last fall with the assistance of advisors Jocelyn Novella, counselor at the university's counseling center, and Karen Guastelle, Dean of Freshman Admissions.
"Sacred Heart University has the first chapter in the state thanks to the hard work of Katie Savarese and Jenna Morales as well as Kaileen Paiva and others in Nu Epsilon. This outreach work can identify people with a problem early on and get them help quickly. The Counseling Center is appreciative of this effort by students to aid their fellow students in need," said Novella.
Nu Epsilon Omega was given a $2000 grant for suicide awareness from the Connecticut Clearinghouse after the students drafted a proposal.
"Writing the grant was a lot of work because we had never written anything like that before, but we were lucky because we had a lot of support especially from Jocelyn Novella in the Counseling Center," said Savarese.
As part of the grant, the group was required to bring an organization to campus and they chose Active Minds.
"Active Minds was most appealing because it is a national organization that wants to assist students with a wide range of mental health issues. It was also appealing because of its interest in college students and the opportunity to network with other chapters to help each other in our goal to wipe out the negative stigma of mental health issues, while helping students as well," said Guastelle.
The Chapter had its first meeting last week, Feb. 5th, at 10:10 outside of the faculty lounge.
"Young adults aged 18-24 have the highest prevalence of diagnosable forms of mental illness," according to Active Minds On Campus.
Nu Epsilon Omega sorority members, senior president Katie Savarese and junior Kaileen Paiva, along with senior Jenna Morales launched the chapter last fall with the assistance of advisors Jocelyn Novella, counselor at the university's counseling center, and Karen Guastelle, Dean of Freshman Admissions.
"Sacred Heart University has the first chapter in the state thanks to the hard work of Katie Savarese and Jenna Morales as well as Kaileen Paiva and others in Nu Epsilon. This outreach work can identify people with a problem early on and get them help quickly. The Counseling Center is appreciative of this effort by students to aid their fellow students in need," said Novella.
Nu Epsilon Omega was given a $2000 grant for suicide awareness from the Connecticut Clearinghouse after the students drafted a proposal.
"Writing the grant was a lot of work because we had never written anything like that before, but we were lucky because we had a lot of support especially from Jocelyn Novella in the Counseling Center," said Savarese.
As part of the grant, the group was required to bring an organization to campus and they chose Active Minds.
"Active Minds was most appealing because it is a national organization that wants to assist students with a wide range of mental health issues. It was also appealing because of its interest in college students and the opportunity to network with other chapters to help each other in our goal to wipe out the negative stigma of mental health issues, while helping students as well," said Guastelle.
The Chapter had its first meeting last week, Feb. 5th, at 10:10 outside of the faculty lounge.
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