Aggie Mental Health Ambassadors was founded in the fall of 2018 by three students with a mission to bring more counselors to Texas A&M.
Chief executive officer and chemical engineering senior Grace Dansby said the organization wants to empower students to educate the world about mental health.
“We strive to make the Texas A&M student body an active force in changing the culture on mental health at our university and hopefully in surrounding communities and around the globe,” Dansby said.
AMHA consists of five committees: programs, policy, awareness, training and development. The programs committee was in charge of the free ‘Mental Health is Real Health’ event at Rudder Theatre and Rudder Exhibit Hall on April 5. AMHA invited two mental health professionals who gave a presentation on anxiety and depression followed by a question and answer session. After the event, there was a resource fair with multiple on- and off-campus mental health resources for students to learn about.
Dansby said she thinks AMHA’s biggest connection to students is their ability to relate to them in a way Student Counseling Services has not been able to since they are closer in age and have similar experiences.
“I think sometimes, especially with mental health, our peers are so much more willing to talk to their friends, individuals in their life or other college students who potentially might be experiencing the same things rather than someone who might be deemed a professional,” Dansby said.
Sociology senior and programs committee chair Hannah Sokora said she hopes the organization starts conversations about mental health and helps get rid of the taboos that often surround the subject.
“I think as a college student, we all go through something at some point in our college career, and being able to be open and being able to talk about that with other students or faculty or peers is really important for our overall well being,” Sokora said. “Even though we are new, it’s a great opportunity to grow as a student body in learning that it’s not just your physical health that matters.”
Programs committee member and human resource and development junior Hannah Morrison said she has struggled with mental health throughout college. Morrison benefited from mental health resources on campus and decided to joined AMHA to help others who are struggling.
Morrison said while SCS provides a lot of resources, it is hard for them to reach out to students on campus.
“We’re kind of seeing the connection between Student Counseling Services and the student body because for one they are all the way out there on West Campus and also they’re adults,” Morrison said. “So we can provide that connection by just referring someone to it and letting people know and being a peer telling you, ‘Yes, you should go to this and it’ll help.’”