DeKALB — The Alive! Mental Health Fair made a stop at the New Hall Community Center during its first visit to the university Thursday.

Members of Helping Huskies Thrive and Counseling and Consultation Services were posted at tables with games bent toward informing players of the symptoms of depression and anxiety and making them aware of the resources they have available to them on campus.

The fair was organized by Helping Huskies Thrive in conjunction with IMAlive, a program from the Kristin Brooks Hope Center. The Kristin Brooks Hope Center started in 1997 and provides alternative resources over the phone or through instant messaging for those who may not feel comfortable calling the Suicide Hotline or seeing a counselor, according to their webpage.

“What we’re doing here is trying to engage students and find out what they know and don’t know about potential risk factors,” said H. Reese Butler, Kristin Brooks Hope Center founder. “We also want students to understand what support systems on campus are like and get them to be aware that they have free counseling available to them that are capable of providing incredible support when they, or one of their peers, need it.”

Butler said Alive! Mental Health Fairs began in 2009 and have been held across the country, with its recent Suicide Prevention tour visiting the New Hall Community Center. The center was decorated with encouraging and inspirational banners and posters.

“We created this so that people can just walk in,” Butler said. “People can come in and play games and talk and share secrets if they want to, but there’s a low bar of entry.”

Two tables set up at the event had educational games for attendees to play. The first table featured a matching game; players were given a list of symptoms they had to match with a disorder. The second table was a true or false game about common myths and facts regarding depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. Butler assisted players through the game by explaining what is true and what can be debated.

“Any time we hand off a student to an on-campus counseling service, we made that bridge ,and that’s a success,” Butler said.

Angela Kaminski, a Helping Huskies Thrive team member, said there has been more acceptance and encouragement among students to get help for mental health concerns.

Helping Huskies Thrive is a program provided by the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention grant that helps university officials address any issues with mental illness students may have and sheds light on what the campus can do to help improve the mental health of the community, according to the Helping Huskies Thrive webpage.

“We have been changing the culture here at NIU, and we have been having a big impact,” Kaminski said. “This is just one event, but through the grant, we’ve been hoping to have more education programs for the students, faculty and staff and bring speakers to campus.”