Last night: Washington College in Maryland, w a leader, Ben Ruvo, who started a MH organization on campus, OpenMindGymm, we had a chance to touch more lives.
Julie Donaldson from NBC Washington, who led our panel w the Washington Wizards the night before, drove all the way from the Redskins practice facility in the morn, to make it for the 6pm event.
Here’s the thing – we didn’t go 2 hours, we went over 2. A # of takeaways, but clarity in them, after talking w Ben this morning, recapping (btw Ben is a triplet, whose bro & sis Max & Holly are students on the same campus & are big supporters/collaborators of their brother’s efforts).
2+ hours is LONG…for anyone…especially for college students in 2019, used to being hooked to their phones. But as we talked abt after, if we are gonna change lives, these in the trenches, deep convos, are a must. What do you leave out when it comes to A) vulnerable story sharing, B) MH misconceptions in the media/social, C) panel discussion, D) the science of stress & trauma affecting us, E) STARR coping/healing practices, F) Q & A? You can’t cut…bc if you do, you leave out important pieces of the education & culture-changing puzzle.
While 3 programs in 3 cities in 3 nights is a ton of fun, it’s also exhausting. That said – the work is what’s needed. If we rely on tweets, articles & 3 min morning show segments for our education & change, we are not doing this topic justice. The trends won’t reverse.
Thank you Julie for doing such a wonderful job showing that even those in the bright lights face challenges & as she put it “have stuff that clogs our closets that eventually come crashing out the door, if we don’t deal w them.”
It takes work. It’s not always pretty. It’s often exhausting. But it’s the only way we bring about the changes we all want to see.
