DeKALB | The Counseling and Student Development Center is hosting a screening event today in the Holmes Student Center’s Lincoln Room for National Depression Screening Day.

The event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for students, faculty and members of the community.

The purpose of the event is to educate students about mental health, said Sarah Kerrick , a pre-doctoral intern at the Counseling and Student Development Center.

“The point is to raise some awareness and allow people who normally don’t go to a counseling center to, in a way, get a check-up,” Kerrick said.

Those interested will take a written survey which will take about ten minutes, Kerrick said.

After the survey, the interested party will meet with a counselor who will review the survey. The entire process is free, anonymous, and confidential.

“We’ve been very cautious to make sure people have their privacy protected,” Kerrick said.

Kerrick also said the event will be beneficial because the process is multi-faceted.

“You get both,” Kerrick said. “It’s a paper and pencil [process] but you also get to talk to a real person.”

The focus of the event is to direct people to the right resources.

“This is not an ad event, this is a service to the students,” Kerrick said. “Helping just one person would make the event a success.”

Kerrick also said mental health and depression among college students are often not taken as seriously as is necessary.

According the book, “College of the Overwhelmed: The Campus Mental Health Crisis and What to Do About It” by Richard D. Kadison and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo, depression “is rampant on college campuses.” The book, published in 2004, states depression among college students often goes untreated and in turn gets progressively worse because symptoms are ignored or overlooked.

Carlene Eck is a Campus Reporter for the Northern Star.