May is Mental Health Awareness month, and on May 11 the Healthy Viking Center held a Virtual Zoom Event called , Making Mental Health a Priority LGBTQIA+.
The event was held to bring awareness about Mental Health in general and its importance in the LGBTQIA+ community for students at LBCC.
“Mental Health is a stigmatized topic in society so we wanted to create a space to de-stigmatize mental health, talk about some mental health challenges, and share resources,” said Sergio Grimaldi, the organizer of the event.
The panel of speakers included Kim Hamon LBCC student activities advisor, Manaia Tuli’au a LBCC student, Kristofr Clement a LBCC student, and Antonio Lavermon a community partner from the LGBTQ center.
Every guest speaker shared their struggles and stories during their mental health journey as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Tuli’au, shared his struggles and wins throughout his journey of finding himself and his mental health journey.
Tuli’au said, “When I was growing up I did not have the resources or the information available to me, so I felt really alone all the time and when they asked me to be part of the panel I felt obligated to do so because now that we have the resources and information out there and we have created a safe space for students, I wanted to be a part of that.”
“It is so important to me that other students that are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community do not go through all the hardships I went through and have that safe place to go to,” said Tuli’au.
If any student has any mental health issues or just needs a space to go to for assistance there are many resources provided on campus to help. The LBCC Health Center delivers a safe place for students who are struggling with mental health and health issues in general.
The Student Health Services hosts numerous workshops and presentations throughout the year.
These events include workshops on anxiety, depression, stress and many more topics that affect students.
Providing the resources needed to help with mental health problems is the main priority at the LBCC health center.
Students can follow Viking Health Services on Instagram @lbcc_healthvikings to stay informed on upcoming events.