A melancholy mood settled on the Lake Room in Norris University Center on Wednesday night as students cried, prayed and embraced during an hour-and-a-half discussion on suicide prevention and awareness. For many, it was an important conversation to have.
The event, presented by Greek InterVarsity, attracted about 30 students who listened to and shared personal stories. The goal was “to spread awareness about the reality of suicide and depression as well as teach prevention methods,” said Communication senior Lauren Berry, Greek Intervarsity’s outreach director.
Greek InterVarsity is one of five chapters of InterVarsity, a Northwestern Christian fellowship organization. This year, the group will hold two “outreach” events per quarter. Its next event will focus on human trafficking in Chicago, she said.
Speakers at the suicide awareness and prevention event included Andy Bilhorn, a Greek IV staff member who supervises the club, current students and an alumna. The selected speakers shared deeply personal experiences of suicide and depression, with themselves and those close to them.
Elizabeth Myers, SESP ’09, discussed her personal experiences with depression and substance abuse. She described herself as “in pain” for years until she was 20 years old, when she met a new group of friends and converted to Christianity.
A student-led slideshow included facts about suicide, on-campus resources, an anonymous student testimony and a selected Bible interpretation.
Though Berry explained the group’s desire was to give students an “introduction to Greek InterVarsity without it being a specifically religious event,” it did include questions about God, prayer and a reading from the Bible.
The presentation was the first of its kind through Greek IV, and was partly inspired by the Web site and mission of the suicide awareness group, “To Write Love On Her Arms,” Berry said. The site is described as a non-profit “dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for those struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.”
Northwestern Counseling and Psychological Services was invited to attend, Berry said, but could not and instead contributed information to the presentation, detailing contact information and services it offers to students. Berry said while NU addresses mental health problems and CAPS offers “great services” to those who seek it out, there is always room to spread awareness about suicide and prevention.
“This is a great movement, and something people don’t know a ton about,” she said. “It just doesn’t get talked about very much.”
The attendees – at least half of whom were members of Greek IV, Bilhorn said – responded emotionally to the material presented, and many stayed afterward to talk and pray with other members.
For Katie Coggins, this was her first time attending an event on suicide awareness. She said it was important for people to share such emotionally intense stories.
“Suicide and depression awareness is something that’s really important, especially in a college setting,” the Weinberg senior said. “Depression is always a hard thing to admit to, because if (people are) admitting it, it’s real.”
In Bilhorn’s experience at NU, suicide “happens this time of year,” adding, “I think we talked about difficult things.”
It was clear from the student response that, however difficult, talking about suicide is a discussion Greek IV students are ready to have.
“What’s the harm in doing more?” Berry asked, explaining suicide is inherently connected to faith, but it doesn’t exclude experiences of people of different beliefs.
“(Suicide) does relate to faith in certain ways, but it’s not like someone would have to consider themselves Christian to be interested in the topic,” she said. “It’s important for student groups like ours to reach out to the campus.”
