It’s amazing how a span of time can feel as though it passed slowly and quickly at the same time. The tour is officially over, and we’re left feeling a massive mix of different kinds of emotions.

In a short amount of time, we accomplished a lot, and not just the two of us, but everyone who contributed to making the first ever Send Silence Packing tour a success. We could not have done this without the amazing support of the chapters and their campuses, our national office, and everyone who came to interact with the displays.

When we started this journey neither one of us realized how much we would learn throughout this journey. We have been touched by the lives of each person we have met along the way and we feel honored to have been a part of this amazing journey. It is our sincere hope that we have been able to convey even an ounce of what we experienced here on the blog. We would like nothing more than for the success of this trip to be felt by all. It is difficult to express just how important this topic is, and how necessary it is that we talk about suicide and mental health. It is our wish that Send Silence Packing will tour again.

It’s hard to find words to match the appreciation we feel for being able to be a part of this. There are so many things that came together to make this tour happen. There are so many people to thank. Thank you for visiting and interacting with the display. Thank you to the people that contributed in some way to get us on the tour. Thank you for following our blog as we tried to share the experience with you. Thank you for your comments, your emails, your responses. Thank you to Active Minds for both giving us this amazing opportunity and creating such an amazing display. Thank you to the chapters that hosted our events. Thank you, especially, to the friends and families that shared their stories. We could go on and on with people to that, so we’ll end with this: thank you.

We appreciate everyone that shared their thoughts on send silence packing.  Ten people won gift certificates for completing the survey. We hope to keep hearing from you via the survey and blog.

We had the honor to meet each and every one the hosting chapters throughout this journey and it was our hope that we could somehow connect you to one another. We started the tour at James Madison University and we ended at Ohio State University. Because we didn’t have this whole chapter interview thing going on at our first display, we have invited JMU to wrap up this portion of the chapter interviews.

We know that so many of you have amazing and creative ideas and we want to encourage you to voice them. We hope that this inspires you to meet one another, to share and connect. Keep reaching out. Take advantage of the list serve and together with all of the passion each one of you has, you guys are going to come up with some amazing ideas to help Active Minds and your campuses.

Each and everyone of you is tied together because of an amazing cause. Thank you for letting us get to know you and for all that you do. Keep up the amazing work.

And now, James Madison University!

Liz Loveless, Senior

In response to Sean:

1. How has your work with Active Minds been received at JMU?

Our work has been received very well! Even though we are a very young chapter, we continue to grow each semester. Students are always curious about our work and eager to be involved. Overall our campus is very friendly and extremely active, so bringing active minds to campus has opened their eyes to a new opportunity and a new way to look at student involvement.

2. In a perfect world, how do you envision the mental health movement progressing in the years to come?

In a perfect world, I would want all people to understand that mental illness is on a spectrum, that all people have mental health but fall onto different places on the spectrum. Because it is a universal, we all must understand mental health in order to help others and ourselves.

3. What has been the best experience for your chapter at JMU?

The best experience has been hosting send silence packing and watching the response from students. Our campus had never experienced anything like the display, but the response was overwhelming. Students were shocked by the statistic and onterested in learning more. Many others felt is was a healing experience and time to commemorate a loved one. Overall, the display brought knowledge and understanding to the JMU campus.

Mary Anne Riley

In response to Paige:

1. How has active minds changed your outlook on mental health?

As a psychology major, I have always been interested in mental health, however being a part of Active Minds for the past year has opened up my eyes to the sad. yet realistic mental health statistics. Before joining Active Minds, I had no idea that 1,100 colleges students commit suicide each year, or that 25% of college aged women have binged and purged. However, Active Minds has more importantly taught me telling your story and raising awareness about mental health can change other people’s lives. Many people with mental illnesses believe that they are the only ones suffering and that they have no hope. Hearing someone’s story and how they dealt with their illness can inspire other people to recover or get help. Before joining Active Minds I never thought about how important the open conversation about mental health actually is for recovery.

2. What legacy would you like to leave on your chapter when you graduate?

I hope to leave a legacy of dedication and commitment to Active Minds. I feel that as an officer of Active Minds I was very passionate about the organization’s duty, and I hope that our future executives will also turn their passion towards mental illness into dedication to Active Minds.

3. Do you think Active Minds can really change the conversation about mental health? How?

Yes, I truly think that Active Minds can help change the conversation about mental health. The preconceived notions and stigmas surrounding mental illnesses can cause people to refrain from sharing their own stories. I think that Active Minds really does help reduce the stigma that surrounds mental illness simply by discussing mental health and raising awareness about the prevalence of mental health disorders that exist on college campuses. For example, that one student who was considering suicide could have walked past the send silence packing display at his or her school and realized that they weren’t alone and opt to seek help.

Vanessa Olson

In response to Neethi:

1. How do you gain membership on your campus?

I was a co-founder in Fall 2008

2. What was your favorite part about Send Silence Packing?

The impact it had on the students who did not know what was going on

3. How do you utilize the list-serv/google groups to communicate with
membership?

We use them to see you has signed up for certain responsibilities for various activities and events we hold on campus.

So many great truck swag souvenirs. We have brought them back to the office and we are so amazed, there is no way to pick just one as a “winner”. We hope to create a space in the office for the truck swag to live and remind us of our first tour and future tours to come. Thank you for everyone who participated.

We received a Fighting Bobcat from the chapter at the Montana State University.

A Goldy Gopher from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

A two-part entry from Marquette University, the top part being made entirely from items at the display.

And last but not least, some Buckeye necklaces from Ohio state! Thanks for the great swag everyone, Karen wouldn’t be nearly as well decked out if it weren’t for all of your great gifts!

As we ended the tour and pulled into DC, we got Sonya Weisburd from the national offices to pose with Karen and all of the Swag. Thanks again, everyone!

After nine events, we were feeling pretty confident about our final display. We heard nothing but great things about the Ohio State University chapter in the days leading up to the event. We were also excited to have Naomi and Kate from the national office join us at the display. All things considered, the day was on its way to be a great final event.

We pulled into the OSU campus and found two volunteers waiting on a corner to direct us to the display. As we rounded the side road, we found the full group of volunteers and a fantastic welcome sign for Karen and ourselves.

Just as we were hoping, the display went as smoothly as we could have asked. The campus was absolutely packed during the display which allowed us to reach a huge number of people with our message. It’s strange, but time seems to speed up and slow down during these things. Both the trip itself and the individual events seem to simultaneously fly by and stretch out. Before we knew it, our last display was finished.

The day flew by, but the local chapter had something special in store for us at the end. After the display, we found ourselves enjoying delicious food and engaging company at an “end of the tour” banquet. We couldn’t have asked for a warmer and more satisfying way to end our last display.

Sean O’Callahan, Senior

My name is Sean O’Callahan and I am a senior psychology major at Ohio State University. I played soccer growing up and really enjoy anything and everything having to do with sports. I joined Active Minds at OSU during my junior year a few months after our chapter was founded. After dealing with depression as a teenager, I felt the need to spread awareness concerning the prevalence of mental illness during my college years. Active Minds has been an incredibly motivating experience for me. I am privileged to work with so many talented and passionate individuals and am excited to see the organization grow in the future.

In response to Murphy:

1. What was the most challenging part of Send Silence Packing?

The most challenging part of SSP was dealing with some dissenting opinions that were voiced during the event. All of the volunteers are so passionate and knowledgeable about the cause, it was hard for us to see some individuals oppose the movement.

2. If you could speak to someone in one of the personal stories, what would you say? About the event?

If I could speak to someone in one of the personal stories, I would be curious as to if anyone reached out to him or her; if anyone began to recognize any change in behavior or mood during their struggle. I would tell them that SSP is about bringing light to the issues that students deal with that can cause suicidal thoughts. SSP lets students know that there is always somewhere to turn, no matter what they are going through.

3. How do you promote mental health in everyday life?

I try to promote mental health in everyday life by being open about my personal story and encouraging others to do the same.

Sean’s questions for James Madison University:

1. How has your work with Active Minds been received at JMU?

2. In a perfect world, how do you envision the mental health movement progressing in the years to come?

3. What has been the best experience for your chapter at JMU?

Paige Van Wormer, Sophomore

I’m Paige Van Wormer, a sophomore and fashion and retail major with a Spanish minor at the Ohio State University! I got involved with Active Minds because its goal is something I am very passionate about. In high school my ex-boyfriend would often say that I am crazy for seeing a counselor and ever since I have hid going to counseling. At one point I even stopped going to the counseling services because of how ashamed I was; why couldn’t I deal with my own problems? Active Minds has made me feel comfortable in my skin again!

In response to Molly:

1. What was the most impactful moment about today?

Today a woman started tearing up when I explained what the 1,100 backpacks stood for. Her brother committed suicide a year before. It really brought everything together for me.

2. What quote, mantra, philosophy, etc. do you seek to live out?

Uh, I have always critiqued myself so harshly on everything I do: sports, school, image. Everyday I try to gain a little more self-confidence and maybe help other young girls learn from my mistakes.

3. Has this even changed you? How do you plan to act?

Send Silence Packing made me realize how important it is to break the stigma around mental health, and ultimately will make me that much more motivated in future Active Minds events.

Paige’s questions for James Madison University:

1. How has active minds changed your outlook on mental health?

2. What legacy would you like to leave on your chapter when you graduate?

3. Do you think Active Minds can really change the conversation about mental health? How?

Neethi Johnson, President

Hi, I’m Neethi Johnson and I’m the president at Active Minds OSU. I’m majoring in biology and entomology and I’ve always been interested in pursuing psychiatry and felt like a student-led voice on campus dealing with mental health was lacking on my campus.

In response to Danielle:

1. How long has your chapter been around and how have you developed it?

Our chapter has been around for 1.5 years now and we feel like we’ve come a long way in a short amount of time. We’ve worked to gain a presence on campus and put on major campus-wide events.

2. How have you seen Active Minds impacting your campus?

Active Minds OSU has impacted the campus through collaborative events and programming with major OSU departments and organizations.

3. What programs work best/reach out to students most effectively?

The programs we have seen work best are outreach programs where we go to the students, on our main oval.

Neethi’s questions for James Madison University:

1. How do you gain membership on your campus?

2. What was your favorite part about Send Silence Packing?

3. How do you utilize the list-serv/google groups to communicate with membership?