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10/08/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/08/2024 11:43

Take a Free Anxiety and Depression Screening on World Mental Health Day

Take a Free Anxiety and Depression Screening on World Mental Health Day

The screenings and other mental health offerings are open to all BU students, faculty, and staff on Thursday

BU will host free confidential screenings for depression and anxiety on both the Charles River Campus and the Medical Campus on Thursday from 10 am to 3 pm, accompanied by mini resource fairs, where people can learn more about available mental health resources on the campuses. Photo via iStock/mushakesa

Mental Health

Take a Free Anxiety and Depression Screening on World Mental Health Day

The screenings and other mental health offerings are open to all BU students, faculty, and staff on Thursday

October 8, 2024
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Does life feel like a lot lately? Do even small stressors send you into a panic spiral? Or do you keep finding yourself thinking about giving up on everything and shutting yourself away instead?

If any of the above sounds familiar: first of all-you're not alone. Nor do you need to go through any of it alone.

Thursday, October 10, marks World Mental Health Day, here at Boston University and across the globe. To commemorate the occasion, the BU Chief Health Office, Student Health Services (SHS), and Employee Wellness are hosting events featuring mental health resources and care-related activities, including free anxiety and depression screenings, on the Charles River Campus and the Medical Campus for all BU students, faculty, and staff.

"One of the things that is so important to normalize and acknowledge is that we all experience natural fluctuations in how we feel throughout our lives, both physically and emotionally," says Melissa Paz, assistant director of mental health promotion at SHS Health Promotion & Prevention. "Just like you would look at an annual physical as standard care, you should approach mental health checkups neutrally, as a way to meet yourself where you're at, whether you're struggling or thriving."

The depression and anxiety screening takes only about two minutes to complete, and you.get your scores immediately. Once you have them, you can choose to speak to someone who can point you to the relevant resources available at BU and beyond. The screening is completely free and anonymous; no insurance is required. If you can't make it in person, you can take the screening online instead.

The Charles River Campus (CRC) screenings will be held on the GSU Plaza from 11 am to 3 pm. On the Medical Campus, screenings will be available on the Talbot Green from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm. In the event of rain, the Charles River Campus events will move to the George Sherman Union basement and the Medical Campus events to the Instructional Building, 72 E. Concord St., Rooms 401 and 403, on.

In addition to the screenings, attendees can visit mini resource fairs this year at both events, where departments and clubs will have tables. Let's Talk About It and BIPOC Mental Health Collective will be on the CRC, and the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Wellness Initiative will be on the Medical Campus. There will also be opportunities to build self-care kits and decorate rocks with positive messages. (Plus, Charlie, Behavioral Medicine's therapy dog, will be on hand on the CRC.)

Paz calls the World Mental Health Day offerings a "rebucketing" of the National Depression Screening Day event, which Student Health Services has historically held in the fall.

"The general foundation is still the same-it's still a university-wide mental health screening event-but we wanted to expand it and make it more inclusive," Paz says. "We're highlighting more student, faculty, and staff groups who are focused on mental health and wel-being."

For students, the event is a perfect time to tune into what's available on campus, says Tori Ingulli (CAS'24, COM'24), an SHS student ambassador.

"I think that it is particularly important to pay attention to mental health in college students because we are in a very transformative part of our lives," she says. "We're balancing so many different things, and BU students are very passionate and sometimes overwork themselves. It's important to know that while being a student is inherently difficult, there are resources embedded in the community that are there to support them through these challenges."

Another bonus: because the screens don't yield a formal diagnosis, just an indicator, they might be less "potentially intimidating," Ingulli says, than booking an appointment with Behavioral Medicine or entering another clinical setting.

Even if you've never utilized mental health care before, the organizers hope the events and online screens serve as an entry into, or reminder of, the help that exists on campus and beyond.

With everything happening in the world right now-the upcoming election, geopolitical conflicts, climate change-"it's a lot to hold," Paz says. "And if you feel like you're the only one experiencing a hard time, that can be really isolating."

Mental health support, she continues, "is not one-size-fits-all." By checking in with yourself, you become more in tune with what your needs are, which can help inform what support might look for you at any point. And "the more that we get used to checking in with ourselves," Paz says, "the more practiced we become at checking in with other people as well. I like to think that in doing that, we become better community members for the people around us, too."

Unable to attend the screenings in person? BU community members are invited totake a free, anonymous online mental health screening at any time. Faculty and staff can do so here, students here.

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  • Alene Bouranova

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    Alene Bouranova is a Pacific Northwest native and a BU alum (COM'16). After earning a BS in journalism, she spent four years at Boston magazine writing, copyediting, and managing production for all publications. These days, she covers campus happenings, current events, and more for BU Today. Fun fact: she's still using her Terrier card from 2013. When she's not writing about campus, she's trying to lose her Terrier card so BU will give her a new one. She lives in Cambridge with her plants. Profile

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