KENNESAW, Ga. — If you were to walk on the Kennesaw State University campus today, you’d be surprised to see the campus covered in backpacks.
This was an art display done in partnership with the nonprofit organization Active Minds as a way to bring awareness to mental health and suicide prevention.
The exhibit is called Send Silence Packing where 1,100 backpacks represented the number of students who lose their lives to suicide every year. Each Backpack included personal stories and pictures from someone who has lost a loved one to the tragedy.
Dr. Josh Gunn, Kennesaw State’s Executive Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, spoke on how the school used this event in hopes to get more people talking about the issue and recognize its importance.
“It is to get people to be willing to talk about something." Dr. Gunn said. "And when you go out there and you see those backpacks and you read those stories, it's hard not to feel something. And hopefully that sends the message that this is something that we care enough to talk about.”
According to KSU’s Counseling and Psychological Services, suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students and two-thirds of students with anxiety or depression fail to seek treatment.
For this reason, KSU offers multiple resources and support for students who are struggling with either their mental health and their overall well being.
“We provide a very wide range of services, from educational things to programming like we're doing today, individual counseling, group counseling. We get out on campus as much as we can,” said Dr. Gunn.
Despite the exhibit being a one day event, Dr. Gunn said that there will be more events just like this to continue to spread awareness across the KSU campus and within the community.
"We're always trying to think about suicide prevention, not as like a one off event a year, but it's something we're trying to do throughout the year." He said.