On April 7, Oakland University’s Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC), hosted an Out of the Darkness Walk at Bear Lake. The walk, which was conceptualized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), is designed to raise awareness and support those who have been impacted by suicide.
The event began with a resource fair. Representatives from the Oakland University Counseling Center, Student Congres and Veteran’s Support Services informed attendees about mental health resources available on campus. Local community organizations, such as HAVEN and CNS Healthcare, shared services available to the broader Oakland County community.
“CNS Healthcare is a community mental health agency. What makes our organization great is that we are able to serve individuals who are underinsured or uninsured,” a representative from CNS Healthcare said. “So, we get to be very accessible in a way that other agencies are not.”
CNS Healthcare brought members of its suicide prevention team to the walk. The team members provided a comfortable environment for attendees to speak about how their lives have been affected by suicide.
Staff members from HAVEN, a non-profit organization based in Pontiac, spoke to attendees about HAVEN’s role in uplifting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
“We are a domestic violence organization that has an array of services for survivors of all ages and genders,” a representative from HAVEN said. “We are an empowerment-based organization, we believe in survivors and help them through their healing journey.”
Celeste Huff, the Coordinator of Orientation and New Student Programs at Oakland University provided the opening remarks to kick off the campus walk. Huff decided to organize an Out of the Darkness Campus Walk at Oakland University because she wanted to raise awareness about mental health challenges.
“By showing up today, you are sending the message that mental health is as real as physical health. You are making a statement, that reaching out for help is the strong thing to do,” Huff said. “Suicide is a health issue that affects all of us.”
Huff pointed out that the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention provides a wealth of support services for individuals affected by suicide.
“By participating in AFSP’s programs like their International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day and healing conversions showed me that I am not alone,” Huff said.
Before the walk, an honor beads ceremony was held. Honor beads are a symbol to acknowledge how suicide and mental illness have affected lives and loved ones. Each color bead shows a personal connection to the cause and helps walkers identify others who have gone through a similar experience.
“These beads represent our dedication, our commitment and our strength as a community,” Huff said. “We are united in our goal and determined to bring suicide prevention out of the darkness and to save lives.”
Following the honor beads ceremony, Huff allowed Team Jacob, a group of walkers from Michigan State University, to begin the walk. Team Jacob raised over $3,000 to benefit the American Association for Suicide Prevention.
To learn more about Out of the Darkness Campus Walks, visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention website.
yousef • Apr 17, 2024 at 12:55 PM
I am glad to see the GSC see support those with mental health issues and suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts and tendencies. Among the most vulnerable of the mentally ill are the individuals suffering from gender dysphoria. They need love and support to accept that they were wonderful and beautifully made just as they are. we need to stop the barking dogs lying to them telling them they need to mutilate and drug themselves to be “their true selves”.
Chelsea • Apr 17, 2024 at 6:09 PM
Yousef, you do realize that a supermajority of physicians, psychologists, endocrinologists, doctors and scientists all support gender-affirming care. No matter how much you delude yourself, “our true selves” are affirmed through this life-saving medical intervention. Please do more research or just don’t comment at all.
yousef • Apr 18, 2024 at 7:02 AM
I will not stop commenting until children are no longer lied to, castrated, and mutilated. The late Carl Sagan once said something like appeals to authority are meaningless. Many parts of Europe for example are recognizing the harm these interventions cause. Does this mean either position is true? No.
Under extreme political pressure barking dogs forced once prestigious medical associations and professionals to capitulate or face consequences; some legal some civil. Gender affirming care is a euphemism for castration and child mutilation. I am sorry you were victim to the propaganda. I urge you to find help accepting you for who you are. You are beautifully and wonderfully made just the way you were intended to be Chelsea.
one the most evil things the barking dogs do is call evil good and good evil. What they are really doing is putting self destructive ideas into pop culture infecting the youth and diluting them into mental anguish and self doubt. they then prey on them so they can mutilate and castrate them. History will not be kind to them just like it was not kind to lobotomy.
Chelsea • Apr 18, 2024 at 12:35 PM
Do you believe that being gay is still a mental disorder and should be treated with conversion therapy, just like you are suggesting for trans people? Science and progress will always move forwards, despite cowards like you who always hide behind a computer screen and a keyboard. Society will move forward once everyone realizes that trans people are normal people and should be accepted for who they are. Gender affirming care is not only for trans people Yousef. Facial surgery, botox, breast augmentation, hell even hairline restoration – all of it affirms the gender of the recipient.
When you say many parts of europe, what do you mean exactly? The cass review?? Please, give me a break. That “review” was funded by a transphobe looking to affirm her backwards beliefs and gender critical ideology. They threw away 98 PERCENT of the studies presented to them. Why? For the simple reason that they are not double blinded, but you cannot “double blind” hormone replacement therapy and social transition. It is literally impossible to get good results from taking sugar pills and saline injections. People will notice and so the study would be faulty.
Politicians lied to you Yousef. It’s not about the children to them, they are going after trans adults as well. Adults, who are consensually taking properly researched medical treatments. These adults usually wait a long time to receive care. I waited two years to receive hormone replacement therapy – during that time, I took a long look at myself and decided that this IS what I want. You wan’t to take that choice away from people. SHAME ON YOU.
Finally, I am loved Yousef. You may not be, since your heart is clearly full of hatred and vitrol, but I am LOVED. You do not know me, you don’t know my family, you don’t know my day-to-day life, you don’t know my friends and my loved ones. So stop being so judgmental. You don’t know me.
yousef • Apr 18, 2024 at 4:21 PM
“Do you believe that being gay is still a mental disorder and should be treated with conversion therapy, just like you are suggesting for trans people?”
Your question also presupposes I support “conversion therapy” which is disparaging charged political term and not a real thing.
No, I think it is highly improbable having homosexual attractions is a mental disorder. There is a place for those with homosexual attractions in society.
“Gender affirming care is not only for trans people Yousef. Facial surgery, botox, breast augmentation, hell even hairline restoration – all of it affirms the gender of the recipient”
Incorrect. these are cosmetic surgeries meant to make those who utilize them “look” better most of the time, not a fundamental redefinition of humanity which forever and all time has had almost without exception men and women until 2 seconds ago in human history. I am also against these types of cosmetic surgeries generally. A case can be made for certain scenarios but aside from freak accidents i dont see a case. They are also not trying to fundamentally redefine language like the barking dogs are.
my reference to Europe were with respect to the UK and Scandinavian countries taking a shifting stance on these issues away from castration sterilization and mutilation. It was to demonstrate that the use of ad populem reasoning is logically fallacious. I would link an article but OP doesn’t allow them anymore in comments.
“Politicians lied to you Yousef. It’s not about the children to them, they are going after trans adults as well”
Those suffering with the mental illness of gender dysphoria should not be told they are the sex they are not. There is nothing good about lying to people. It is like telling a schizophrenic the voices are real. Instead we should show them that there is nothing wrong with them and they are instead beautifully and wonderfully made just the way they are and counsel them to accept that fact.
I am not a libertarian either i do not believe people should be permitted to do *everything* they want but most of what they want. I do not think people should be permitted to use most drugs, prostitute themselves, sell their organs, or sell themselves into slavery (indentured servitude), consent to sex at any age, or kill themselves (Otherwise known as MAID in Canada).
This is primarily because we do not live our lives as atomized individuals. EVERYTHING we do has an affect on first ourselves, then our families, then our immediate communities etc all the way to the nation. Our own laws demonstrate this principle in our compulsory education statutes among other places.
Certain things, such as castration, mutilation, and sterilization, no matter what euphemism you use or “expert” you cite will forever be wrong. I do not need letters after my name to know the moral law written on the hearts of man to know allowing my neighbor to castrate, mutilate or sterilize themselves with no resistance is hateful on my part.
“Finally, I am loved Yousef. You may not be, since your heart is clearly full of hatred and vitrol, but I am LOVED.”
On a personal note and only because you mentioned your personal experience; I am sorry you were abused by those around you. You need truth and not lies from those who love you and the doctors who abandoned their oaths who are poisoning you.
I am not condemning you neither am i hateful. i can see you’re suffering and need help. But it wouldnt be helpful or kind of me to you or anyone reading this to affirm your false perception yourself.