\u201cOne of the largest demographics on campus that isn\u2019t receiving attention are guys,\u201d Swiatek said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a guy I thought a lot about what kind of resources I would have liked and what kind of resources should be offered to my friends and fraternity brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

To encourage men to speak out about their mental health issues, Swiatek said MENtal Health has two main goals: to reduce the stigma around men\u2019s mental health and to get people to use available resources as well as provide resources of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the group is still in its developmental stages, Swiatek said he plans to focus on members of fraternities before extending to the rest of campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe do want to branch out beyond just fraternities, but we figured it\u2019s just an easier place to start because we\u2019re very new and a lot of us involved with the group know fraternities well,\u201d said MENtal Health member Justin Shannin, a Communication senior and a member of Delta Chi.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the group is all-male, with 10 of its 12 members affiliated with five different fraternities. As members of Greek life, they have all either experienced mental health issues or have seen their brothers go through difficult times, said Weinberg sophomore Grant Murphy-Herndon, a member of Phi Delta Theta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI had a pretty tough Winter Quarter,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cI\u2019m from the South, so winter was particularly hard for me and I had a number of friends who also had some trouble as well. Almost no one took advantage of anything that was on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

To combat the lack of initiative in men to reach out for help, the group has come up with several ways to bring their services to fraternities. Swiatek said the organization\u2019s programming will target men going through the stressful rush process. MENtal Health\u2019s initiatives include helping new member educators develop mental health programming, giving presentations on mental health to fraternities, participating during rush firesides to new member groups and providing a safe space for anyone who needs to talk, Swiatek said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interfraternity Council President Mark Nelson said he supports the group and wishes it had been around when he was rushing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI\u2019m excited about it,\u201d Nelson, a Weinberg senior, said. \u201cThis is a great program for people who are like me who don\u2019t necessarily feel comfortable just opening up to others.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In addition to developing its own programming, Swiatek said he wants MENtal Health to work closely with existing mental health organizations \u2014 both student- and University-run \u2014 such as Counseling and Psychological Services, NU Active Minds and NU Listens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI do truly believe that given the opportunity, guys do want to open up and talk about these issues,\u201d Swiatek said. \u201cIt\u2019s just that with the current way things are done, guys have to go out of their way in order to go to these spaces and we want to bring it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As seen in The Daily Northwestern A new mental health organization has formed at Northwestern University with the intent of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[507],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pursuit-of-greatness"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n