The Graham Counseling Center will be hosting a workshop for students with anxiety and depression on Nov. 8 and 10.

The Nov. 8 meeting will be from noon until 1 p.m. and another meeting will be held on on Nov. 10 from 4:45 to 5:45 p.m., for those who cannot make the earlier session.

Doctoral interns Chelsi Day and Jamie Lucus will run the workshop together. Dr. David Schwartz, director of GCC, also helped planned the event.

With the rate of anxiety and depression at an extreme high among college students, GCC staff members considered it of great importance to educate students that it is OK to seek help and how and where  to do so.

“There are a lot of stigmas around mental health,” Day said. “So being able to get out there and provide these workshops is important.”

The workshop will begin with an interactive project that will teach students about mental health.

“We know that students are in class all day, so the last thing they want to do is sit in an extra hour of classes,” Schwartz said. “We try to keep it fun, interactive and interesting to get people to have fun while they are learning.”

Following the activity, psychologists will explain the facts of anxiety and depression, and will answer any questions that participants may have. The workshop will also provide handouts outlining resources available.

In addition to providing students with knowledge on depression and anxiety, the workshop will teach students how to help others dealing with such difficulties.

Schwartz looks forward to the final detail of the workshop and says it will be a place for students to have the opportunity to speak with, and ask any personal questions they have, with any of the psychologists.

Day said she also enjoys this aspect of the workshop.

“My favorite part of these workshops is just getting to meet some of the students and hear their stories … to really be able to interact on a different level with the students,” Day said.

Mariel Brehler, a secondary education major, has experienced depression. Since the beginning of her freshman year, Brehler had to deal with staying at home while her parents moved to Ohio, while also dealing with a close friend’s move out of state for medical treatment.

Brehler said that she felt her life had no purpose. An athlete her entire life, she stopped working out. She spent a lot of time crying, but thought that she was just overacting.

“I thought about getting help through OU’s counseling center, but I was self conscious about how I was feeling and I shied away from (seeking help),” she said. “I wish I had known more about the counseling center and had been brave enough to get help there.”

Brehler has since been treated for her depression and is now living on campus, which she says she really enjoys.

Alex Carter, an OU alumnus and graduate student at University of Michigan, was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at age five. He believes it is important for people to understand that those with anxiety issues must speak with someone too, whether it is friends, family or a counselor.

“Keeping things bottled up and brewing, building pressure, isn’t good,” he said. “Talking out your problems makes you feel better.”

For more information about the workshops, contact David Schwartz at [email protected] or visit oakland.edu/ghc for anxiety and depression resources.