We’ve seen so much momentum for mental health on campuses throughout our Southern US tour! The energy continued during our extremely lively display at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. The warm Florida weather and active campus community ensured that we had plenty to talk about throughout the event.

Two things stood out to be about this display: The interest in personal stories/family history, and questions. These two overlapped quite a bit as well, and we heard several students asking an important question: what can I do to make sure my family is ok?

This is a fantastic question, and luckily, an answerable one. As we emphasize during our city displays, the information we provide, while focuses on college students, applies to everyone. Mental health is ubiquitous—it’s something we all share. We may be at different parts of a spectrum at any given time, but we all have the capacity to be a part of the conversation. One visitor spent quite a bit of time at our resource table before asking how she could get information about how to learn about her Uncle’s schizophrenia. She mentioned about how she knew almost nothing about it growing up because her family refused to acknowledge it. However, by taking the step to ask questions this day, she was able to walk away with information on how to learn more about what was affecting her family.

As we near the end of another tour, the display at FAMU was an important reminder that we need to continue having these conversations and discovering the tools to talk about mental health throughout all of our communities, whether it’s your school, your workplace, or your family.