Washington University mental health resources are grappling with how to continue helping students from afar amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that has emptied campus.

Leaders in Interpersonal Violence Education will host Out of Stigma’s Shadow, an event featuring students who will share their experiences with mental health, March 4.

Emergency Support Team, Campus Y, Uncle Joe’s Peer Counseling and Habitat for Humanity have all circulated petitions for block funding from SU for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Uncle Joe’s Peer Counseling and Resource Center is hosting Mental Health Matters Week this week from March 25 through March 29.

Each of the groups petitioning—Uncle Joe’s, Emergency Support Team (EST), Lucidity, Campus Y, Bear Discounts and WUnderground—must receive 1,071 signatures, fifteen percent of the student body, by Feb. 22. Then, their budget is voted on by the student body in the SU spring election. If it passes with a two-thirds student vote, their petition is funded.

The Black Mental Health Forum, sponsored by the Association of Black Students, provided a space for students to openly discuss mental health in the black community Friday, Nov. 17.

Calls for empathy will go unanswered and largely unfulfilled if we first do not understand the barriers to empathizing with people different from ourselves.

In advance of Student Union’s general budget session, four student groups have chosen to apply for block funding: Habitat for Humanity, Campus Y, Uncle Joe’s Peer Counseling and Emergency Support Team.

Despite the smiling faces that grace the covers of our brochures and viewbooks, unhappiness certainly has an ominous presence on campus. I guess it isn’t completely surprising that this is such a common sentiment—after all, Washington University is an intensely high-pressure environment. It’s almost too easy to fall into the clutches of feeling inadequate, overwhelmed, lonely and everything in between.

With over 170 secrets submitted, Uncle Joe’s Peer Counseling and Resource Center’s PostSecret event aimed to allow students to express their innermost thoughts and feelings through anonymous postcards. The Monday night event held as part of Mental Health Awareness Week had a large turnout and positive responses from students.