By On Sept. 21, Carroll College joined with the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) to promote mental health awareness, build the NAMI community, and raise much-needed funds for Carroll’s free, top-rated programs.
The Carroll College Wellness Center collaborated with Carroll Campus student clubs to invite Carroll students, faculty, staff, and family, as well as the community of Carroll supporters, to join team “CARROLL COLLEGE SAINTS” to support mental health for all.
Students kicked off the day by meeting at Memorial Park to take photos before the event started. Students showed up decked out in their Carroll gear, promoting the college’s support for this program.
Booths previously opened at 11 a.m., where different organizations were able to share their valuable information and market to the community. These organizations ranged from St. Peter’s Hospital, the American Indian Culture Awareness program, to Carroll College’s Master of Social Work Program.
“Our social work program was developed to train clinical social workers to meet the mental health needs in Montana and throughout the rest of the country,” said Dr. Jean Ollis. “This links very closely with NAMI, and that we’re here to support services and the programs that help meet the needs of mental health.”
Ollis is an associate professor in Carroll College’s Master of Social Work Program and actively continues to practice part-time as a mental health therapist.
NAMI’s mission is being felt widely throughout the nation as the movement and achievement of “Mental Health for All” has never felt this critical before.
“I think that mental health is a very important topic that we need to be discussing,” said junior and health science major Gabby Domenici, who is from Albuquerque, New Mexico. “I think that this event was a great opportunity to learn about the resources that we have on campus and also in the community of Helena.”
