As November begins to wind down, ASUW’s two mental health initiatives, Movember and No More Empty Saddles continue strong with many fun and informational events ahead. No More Empty Saddles is a larger focused initiative spanning the entire year, while Movember is a month-long collaborative initiative and passion project led by Senator Cole Schliebe to provide the students and community with a vast array of resources and activities to support mental health.
“If we can impact one person and ask them to rethink how they view their own mental health, how they access their mental health, and who they can talk to about that stuff, that’s our goal,” Senator Cole Schliebe said.
These events are held in collaboration between ASUW, the Dean of Students, Violence Prevention, Restorative Justice, 7220 Entertainment, and the Wellness Center.
Already, there have been six events that have taken place in hopes of “changing the face of mental health.” These events have included a dodgeball tournament on the 1st, a masculinity circle talk with Restorative Justice to help break down the social norms surrounding masculinity on the 4th, Cash Cab financial awareness events on the 6th and 13th, a yoga class held on the 11th to help students learn healthy ways to decompress, and on the 15th hosted a Border War watch party that included mental health and masculinity “mythbusters”.
Looking forward to two of the largest upcoming events, there is the Band in the Sand concert featuring Tris Munsick at 6 p.m. Nov. 20th at the Hansen arena and a community-wide tailgate for the final home football game against Boise State on Saturday the 23rd at Washakie from 3-5 p.m. This tailgate is partnered with Residence Life, the Wellness Center, Laramie County Community College (LCCC), and WyoTech with a focus on mental health in fun ways including free food, games, a pool tournament and more.
After students return from Thanksgiving break, there will be a speaker series on Monday the 2nd and Tuesday the 3rd, a storyteller spotlight in Pokes Pub on the 4th, and a masculinity circle on Thursday the 5th. Dec. 6th will be the grand finale of Movember, featuring a Beard Shave at Union After Dark. Students will be able to vote on which style to shave the five contestants who have grown their facial hair throughout the month to show their support. Also at Union After Dark, ASUW will announce the winners of the Movember competition and present their prize. This competition is attendance based and at each event, a QR code will be shown for individuals to scan to receive 5 points for yourself and a chosen student organization that you represent.
Mental health issues within our society are often argued as a cultural issue. Senator Schliebe believes that this is a structural issue within the culture and aims to tackle it by bringing awareness and conversation to the community.
“I don’t think we are going to see any immediate effects, but I do hope that if we continue doing this, it is going to be a testament to our culture, it’s going to leak into our culture,” Schliebe commented. “We really want [Movember] to stick around and for people to continue doing this year by year.”
