Mental Health Awareness Night at BYU

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There are several students affected by mental or emotional health issues, however there are many resources available in Utah County to help students cope.

On Thursday night, BYU’s Comprehensive Clinic teamed up with Intermountain Health Care to put on the fourth annual Mental Health Awareness night. At the event, there were information booths representing over 30 organizations and speaker sessions who discussed a variety of issues.  All of the activities at the event provided useful resources for anyone concerned about mental and emotional health.

Those in attendance had the opportunity to hear from professionals on mental health issues such as suicide and depression, pornography, addiction, eating disorders and much more.

[/media-credit] Students and community members visit booths to get information on mental health services
Janet Frank, spokesperson for Intermountain Healthcare, was glad that useful information was being shared with those who need it.

“For four years now we’ve consistently had over 400 people come,” Frank said. “We are very aware that there’s more need for mental health resources and we want people to be aware of what resources are already there and how they can help them.”

Intermountain Healthcare, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, BYU, LDS Family Services, the Utah County chapter of NAMI (National Alliance for people with Mental Illness), United Way and Wasatch Mental Health all helped put together the event.

Director of BYU’s Comprehensive Clinic, Dr. Dean Barley presented about when, where and how to get services about mental health.

“The clientele at the Comprehensive Clinic has gone up in the last three years,” Barley said. “We have been doing more outreach and this Mental Health Awareness Night is the biggest thing we do and is a big benefit to the Clinic.”

The Comprehensive Clinic provides services to the community, not only to students.

Andrea Knestel, a psychologist at BYU’s Counseling and Psychological Services, provides free, professional counseling to students and aims to help students achieve their academic potential.

“The thing that is so wonderful here is that you can tie in the gospel when talking to students,” Knestel said. “It’s nice not having people embarrassed to bring up religion, it makes it really special here.”

Mental Health Services Awareness Night is known to be the highlight event of the year for the BYU Comprehensive Clinic and several other organizations. The event provided knowledge to hundreds of people in need of help.

The Comprehensive Clinic is located at 1190 North and 900 East in Provo.

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