DeKALB – Active Minds, a nonprofit organization in partnership with Aetna Health Insurance and in collaboration with Counseling and Consultation Services at NIU, came together to host the Send Silence Packing exhibit Thursday at MLK Commons.
The event featured an exhibit focused on various suicide survivors, but also individuals who took their life by sharing their stories. Included was a backpack exhibit in which around 100 backpacks were put up on individual stands. Each of the backpacks showed stories that were submitted for the event.
Active Minds held the first Send Silence Packing event 16 years ago, although the organization focuses on mental health awareness as a whole and not just suicide.
Eric Rockwood, a program associate of Send Silence Packing through Active Minds, explains more about the founder of the organization.
“Our founder and CEO, Alison Malmon, lost her brother to suicide when she was a student at UPenn (University of Pennsylvania) over 20 years ago, and she found at the time there weren’t enough resources, not only just for him, but for herself as well as survivors,” Rockwood said.
Rockwood explained the meaning behind the backpacks.
“It’s broken up into two different sections. It’s divided by the blue stories, stories of hope, and then the yellow stories, stories of loss. The stories of hope also have stories of those who were lost by suicide. However, the difference is with these a foundation was created in their name or a law passed,” Rockwood said. “The backpacks are just a good visualization. Depending on the school, we’ll occasionally get a backpack that was donated from the family of the person affected.”
Rockwood also explained the essence of the Send Silence Packing exhibit.
“We tend to focus on youth and young adults, so college age is kind of a good medium for that. The Send Silence Packing was created to have a visual effect to it, but also travel to the students themselves,” Rockwood said.
There are difficult parts of the job that Rockwood has had to deal with.
“I mean, you’ll have very emotional students that come up, and while I’m good at de-escalation, I’m still a human being with my own feelings, and you’ll be talking to them, and it hits you. It really does, you know?“ Rockwood said.
Rockwood recalled a moment that stood out to him during this event.
“We had someone come up and mention, ‘I was thinking about taking my life in the next couple of days’, and obviously we were all shocked. No matter who you are, it’s a shock to hear. Even the trained professionals because it’s just unexpected, and knowing that we were, hopefully, the reason they didn’t take their life at the end of the day. I know at least, by the end of the day, their whole perspective shifted. They came out smiling,” Rockwood said.
Sierra Usmani, a junior communication major, explained how she learned of the event.
“I was on Instagram and I saw that the student involvement page had posted about this event and how it’s going to be about mental health and the stigma surrounding mental health,” Usmani said.
Usmani explained how this event has changed her perspective.
“It makes me more compassionate and caring towards people because you don’t know what someone’s going through,” Usmani said.
Aj Berton, a first-year biology major, believes mental health is important at NIU.
“I feel like mental health is a huge issue with school because everyone’s always under so much pressure,” Berton said.
In addition to the Send Silence Packing event, Student Wellness offers a variety of different events and mental health resources that are available to students. Counseling and Consultation Services also offers mental health screenings and Togetherall, a free online platform, connects students with each other and self-care resources.
