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For students with questions about their future, one group on campus thinks they have the answer.
NAMI-Rutgers, a campus affiliate of National Alliance on Mental Illness, is hosting a panel this coming Tuesday night at the NJC Lounge of the Douglass Campus Center.
"This panel will bring together professionals from various fields within mental health advocacy, providing a space for students to engage in discussion with the panelists about career possibilities and planning for the future," said NAMI-Rutgers Program Coordinatior Danese Brielle Nalence, a Douglass College junior.
There are currently only two Career Service offices on campus, one on the College Avenue campus and one on Busch campus, which Nalence says is insufficient for such a large University.
One of the main goals of college is to prepare students to get a job, but many students are unsure of how to apply to graduate school or where to look for a job, Nalence said. The lack of programs to address these issues is troubling to Nalence, and it has fueled her desire to create this panel discussion.
"It is hoped that this panel will provide some insight to the world outside of college and offer students a glimpse at possible job opportunities," Nalence said.
Nalence has been working with Career Services to expand the resources available to University students. Career Services personnel gave NAMI some literature and provided help circulating flyers and advertising for the event.
"Career Services are often under-utilized at school," Nalence said. "This event will hopefully reach out to a broad range of students, helping them to better understand opportunities and career fields available after their undergraduate year."
NAMI-Rutgers is a student organization, which was established last year at the University by NAMI-Rutgers Founder Stacy Hollingsworth, a Rutgers College senior.
"We pretty much started from scratch and have built ourselves from the bottom up," Nalence said.
The new organization, with eight executive board members and more than 30 affiliates, has already achieved a great amount of success. NAMI won the "Knight in Shining Armor" award for student organizations, the Algeria "Program of the year" award for Mardi Gras Maddness and the Algeria "Outstanding Student Organization of the year" award, as advertised in the bi-monthly newsletter NAMI-Rutgers produces and publishes.
"[The] student organization strives to educate the Rutgers University community about mental health issues, promote early detection and intervention, provide support for students facing mental illness, reach out to family members and friends of those who have mental illnesses, and combat the stigma surrounding these psychiatric disorders," according to the NAMI-Rutgers yahoo group.
NAMI-Rutgers directly benefits the students on campus. [It's] A very involved organization meant to incorporate the students in the cause, said NAMI-Rutgers President Ame Bora, a Douglass college senior.
The panel event is featuring a broad range of professionals who have experience in the health professional field and who will address some of these relevant issues.
The panelists include Carlos Cordero, the director of Social Services at Chandler Clinic/University of Medicine and Dentristy of New Jersey; Kathy Murphy, a music therapist; Ann Portas, the deputy director for the Division of Mental Health Advocacy within New Jersey's Department of the Public Advocate; and many others, including licensed clinical social workers.
Each panelist will speak for about 15 minutes, and all of the panelists will participate in the question and answer at the end. The speech will include details of where the panelist received a degree, personal anecdotes, advice for students, difficulties of transitioning to the workforce after school and obstacles within the professional world.
At the conclusion, students will have the opportunity to speak with the professionals one-on-one so they can ask more personal questions about the professionals' field of work, Bora said.
This event is the kick-off event for the Mental Illness Awareness Week. Mental Illness Awareness Week is part of a national initiative to raise awareness about mental illness. Other things to look forward to in October are "In Your Own Voice," a speech from NAMI-NJ about their struggle with mental illness and a collaboration with RU-tv who will be airing mental health related movies all month.
NAMI-Rutgers' goal is to raise awareness about mental illness and reach out to those individuals of the Rutgers community that may have or know someone who has a mental illness, Nalence said.
"Our organization is open to all Rutgers University students, though, and is a great way to get involved and help others at the same time," she said.
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