The topic of mental health and mental-health issues was never something my family or friends talked about when I was growing up.

When I was in middle and high school, the term mental health was only brought up when we were learning about someone involuntarily committed through the Baker Act or someone who was acting “crazy”
 and other people would just jump to the conclusion that the person had a mental illness. It was as if the terms mental health and mental illness had a negative connotation. It wasn’t until I entered college that I realized there is more to mental health.

In today’s society, this topic seems to be brought up more and more through the news, social media, on the radio, and even in the workplace. Many celebrities have been coming out and speaking about their mental-health issues in hopes that it raises awareness to the fact that they are indeed human and that this is something most people go through. Even though we (sometimes) seem to be evolving as a society, it feels like there is still a stigma around mental-health issues.

I never understood why it was so hard for people to talk about mental-health issues until I started to experience it myself.

I never understood why it was so hard for people to talk about mental-health issues until I started to experience it myself.

In the past two years, my body has been acting crazy in many ways completely out of the blue. I didn’t understand what was going on at first and had a slight feeling that it had to do with anxiety. I never experienced anxiety to the point where I felt like I was going to pass out, so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything related to my physical health. I decided to reach out to my doctor for some guidance.

After lots of blood work, tests to check my glucose, and being on a heart monitor for a month, I learned I am physically healthier than ever!

But why was I having these completely random episodes where I felt like I was suddenly going to pass out? I became depressed and felt like I was falling in a hole because I wasn’t getting any answers. My doctor realized I wasn’t happy when he gave me my tests results, even though everything would come out normal, because he knew I wanted to figure out what was going on with my body.

That was when he suggested I speak with a psychologist.

I was nervous with the thought of seeing a psychologist. Again, when I growing up, I was told that there was a negative connotation with seeing a psychologist and going to therapy sessions.

When I went into the session, my hands were sweaty, my heart was racing, and I didn’t know what to expect. At the end of the session, I learned that everything I was experiencing was called panic disorder, a condition in which out of the blue my body goes into full panic mode and I feel like I am going to suddenly pass out. This episode typically lasts 15 to 20 minutes and then it goes away.

For once, I felt a sigh of relief because I finally received the answers I had been waiting for for months. However, learning that I was diagnosed with a mental-health issue such as panic disorder, made me finally understand, after all these years, why it’s a difficult topic to talk about. I felt embarrassed and frustrated that I was going through this and it was very difficult to talk to those close to me about it. I felt like they didn’t believe me or were coming up with excuses as to why I was feeling the way I was.

In this whole process I learned that I am just like other humans, and everyone experiences mental health issues, if even in different ways.

I learned that I should not be embarrassed to talk about my condition, because when I talk about it, I always learn that someone else is experiencing, or has experienced, mental-health issues in a similar way.

It is important for people to not be ashamed or embarrassed to seek help from a psychologist or a mental-health counselor.

I have learned different ways to cope with my anxiety and panic attacks in ways I never knew before. I feel stronger and comfortable to talk about my issues with my colleagues and those close to me.

And as I said, now I feel that I can conquer anything.

Katherine Torres is the facilities scheduler at the șŁœÇֱȄ’s Recreation and Wellness Center. She can be reached at Katherine.Torres@ucf.edu.

The UCF Forum is a weekly series of opinion columns presented by UCF Communications & Marketing. A new column is posted each Wednesday at http://today.ucf.edu and then broadcast between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday on WUCF-FM (89.9). The columns are the opinions of the writers, who serve on the UCF Forum panel of faculty members, staffers and students for a year.

At the time I was about 6 years old and I thought sports were for boys, so I didn’t care too much to play with him, but I would still watch from the side and cheer him on.

In elementary school, I participated in a few Special Olympics track and field events and received participation metals and ribbons. For a long time, that was the extent of my participation in sports.

Spending most of my childhood in Orlando, I became a huge Orlando Magic fan. I watched almost every game on TV and attended some in person. I started to understand all the calls being made by the referees and learned the players’ names on the team. I fell in love with the sport, just as my older brother did.

Around this time, I started to expose myself to other sports such as football, tennis and soccer. I didn’t understand them as well as I did basketball, but my curiosity kept my eyes glued to the screen.

One day something inside of me clicked. I realized that with every sport I came across on TV, from the time I was a toddler to even now, I had never seen someone who was in a wheelchair or had some form of physical disability playing on a team. I didn’t quite understand why. I mean, if I am able to fall in love with a sport, then other people like me probably do too. I thought maybe the reason we can’t play the sport is because our chairs or something else limits us.

I quickly found out this limitation wasn’t true when my next door neighbor bought a basketball hoop and I would play with him every weekend. I discovered that I was actually able to get the ball into the net.

I had been mentally putting these limitations on myself that were not true.

I had been mentally putting these limitations on myself that were not true.

But I still didn’t understand why I never saw anyone with physical disabilities on TV playing sports.

A year went by and I met someone who was also in a wheelchair, Gabriel. We became good friends and I learned that he played on a local wheelchair basketball team. This was the first time I heard of a sport team specifically for people who utilize wheelchairs. Shortly after, I learned about the Paralympics and found myself watching countless YouTube videos of sports that were adapted for those who had physical limitations.

Gabriel kept trying to convince me to go to a practice and play with the team, but I constantly denied the invite because I felt I was not good enough – I only played with my neighbor for fun.

But Gabriel never gave up. Every year they were having tryouts he always told me and I always turned down the offer.

It was not until I was a student at the șŁœÇֱȄ when I learned about an upcoming intramural two-on-two wheelchair basketball tournament that was inviting people of all abilities to play. I finally pushed aside my fear and told myself: “Why not? It’s just a one-day tournament.”

Alas, we ended up in last place. Although for me it wasn’t about what place we finished, but rather the impact and awareness the tournament had on me and everyone participating.

That tournament changed my entire outlook on sports!

It made me finally feel a part of something and made me appreciate the people who recognize that the disabled population is the most underserved population in the country and are trying to make a difference.

Allowing people of all abilities to participate in these kinds of tournaments and leagues helps bring this kind of awareness to everyone. I often hear feedback from people who are able-bodied on how difficult it actually is to push the chair, dribble the ball and shoot all at the same time, and how much they respect those who play this sport. Hearing this feedback fills me with joy.

It is amazing to see how simple it is to adapt a sport for those with physical limitations. Every time someone hears about a Paralympics sport and I show them a video, they seem so amazed and always say: “I could never play this, it looks so difficult!”

I hope that at someday I am able to come home from a long day at work, turn on the TV and watch a live game of wheelchair basketball. Now that would be the cherry on top.

Katherine Torres is the facilities scheduler at the șŁœÇֱȄ’s Recreation and Wellness Center. She can be reached at Katherine.Torres@ucf.edu.

The UCF Forum is a weekly series of opinion columns presented by UCF Communications & Marketing. A new column is posted each Wednesday at /news/ and then broadcast between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday on WUCF-FM (89.9). The columns are the opinions of the writers, who serve on the UCF Forum panel of faculty members, staffers and students for a year.

“It feels like a bit of freedom,” said Katherine Torres, a student majoring in health services administration who has a muscle weakness that doesn’t allow her to stand or walk. “I’ve always been one to challenge myself. And when a lot of people say I can’t do something – just watch. I didn’t know what to expect, but when I got half way there I thought to myself ‘I’m going to keep on going. I can do this.’”

Some other universities in Florida offer rock climbing to their students, but UCF is the only one to have an adaptive climbing wall, giving students with limited mobility a chance to climb, said Nathan Vink, assistant director of UCF’s Outdoor Adventure program.

This summer the Recreation and Wellness Center provided special training to eight staffers to jump-start its new adaptive-climbing program.

“This is a growing focus in recreation – to look beyond the able-bodied student and offer opportunities to all students, whether with physical or mental disabilities,” Vink said about the campus Student Assisted Workout program. “Our goals are also to try to reach the students who aren’t here yet, to open up opportunities. We have students who don’t have the same abilities, but they do have abilities.”

The adaptive-climbing program empowers students, whether beginners or experienced, to reach their potential on the 41-foot tower.

“They challenge themselves. They set their own goals,” Vink said. “We don’t tell them they have to reach the top. We’re supportive of what they want to achieve.”

The center trained staffers in the techniques of harnessing climbers in the equipment and controlling the safety ropes as the participants ascend. The climbers use a handlebar-style device that grips a rope and slowly ratchets them upwards as they repeatedly pull downward on the bar.

The ratchet system requires a quarter of the strength that other climbers would need to ascend the rope. There are different seat harnesses with various strapping and padding to help with pressure issues, and participants with prosthetic limbs can use the equipment in a way to help propel them up the rock face.

Torres, who also works in the Recreation and Wellness Center, said she heard about the campus climbing tower two years ago when she was a freshman, and has long wished she could somehow try to scale it – even if the prospect of ascending the tower was a little intimidating. And now with the staffers on duty to help, she has made the trip up twice.

Kristen Cioce, who uses a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury, was hesitant at first to try the tower, but said she went up to fulfill a promise to one of her physical trainers – and it was an exhilarating experience that she’d do again if the opportunity came up.

“It was not something I was looking forward to doing. At first it was something I was trying to get out of,” said Cioce, who graduated last month with a master’s degree in social work. “But it’s an amazing opportunity that UCF offers.”

Vink said the staffers also talk with the climbers to allay any fears about heights or falling. And as the climbers ascend, staffers “belay” the safety ropes – or take up the slack to prevent slips.

“Every student is unique,” he said. “We just try to see how we can help them.”

Three students used the system during the summer, and now that the fall semester has started, Vink expects others to check out the adaptive-climbing experience.

What advice do the veteran climbers have for others?

“I highly recommend it to any student who has inabilities,” Cioce said. “Just follow your gut if you’re being led to do it. You don’t have to get to the top.”

And while people in wheelchairs usually feel smaller than others, Torres said, “This is a time to feel bigger than everyone. You can have a different perspective.”

For more information about the climbing program or to schedule a climb, visit http://rwc.sdes.ucf.edu/facilities/climbing-tower.