{"id":14639,"date":"2018-09-13T18:05:33","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T18:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=14639&post_type=story"},"modified":"2020-06-10T16:04:57","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T16:04:57","slug":"we-need-to-talk","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/we-need-to-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"We Need to Talk about Mental Illness"},"content":{"rendered":"
Fall \u00a02018 |\u00a0<\/i>By Robert Stephens<\/em><\/p>\n [lead]Brandon Marshall \u201906<\/strong> wants it known from the start: This story should not be about him. In fact, he\u2019s reluctant to be interviewed. It would be too easy to get sidetracked and talk about football and numbers and media coverage \u2028and \u2026 him. That\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re a legendary UCF player, \u2028a six-time Pro Bowl selection in the NFL, and the first receiver in NFL history with six 100-catch seasons.[\/lead]<\/p>\n And there we go, reviewing those types of statistics rather than diving into the one that matters most to Brandon and his wife, \u2028Michi (Nogami) Marshall \u201906<\/strong>: According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about 1 in 5 people in the U.S. live with a mental health disorder. Quietly. Alone. In class. At work. One in 5<\/em>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s why Brandon and Michi founded Project 375 as a springboard for people to discuss mental health as easily as we discuss last weekend\u2019s football games. (They named the nonprofit after Pantone color 375, lime green, which is the color for national mental health awareness.)<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a myth to think mental health is too complex to talk about,\u201d says Michi, who graduated from UCF with degrees in psychology<\/a> and criminal justice<\/a>. \u201cOften, the only time we hear about mental health is in times of crisis or tragedy. Our goal is to make it part of our daily interactions with our kids, our grandparents, our teachers, everyone. We all need to be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2017, UCF became the first university to officially partner with Project 375, which trains educators and students in Youth Mental Health First Aid Training so they can assist in identifying people with mental health challenges and lead them to help. Imagine how many students and teachers could learn to notice what\u2019s really under the masks.<\/p>\n [divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n The statistics of mental illness are staggering: Twenty percent of U.S. adults experience it in a given year. They aren\u2019t necessarily living on the street or beating at the air with their fists. \u2028It might be the woman at the coffee shop. The guy sitting next to you in class. The people in your office. The family members in your home. Your best friend. It could also be her<\/em>: that girl who sits alone. The look that may read as, \u201cEveryone stay away from me,\u201d could be her way of saying, \u201cSomeone please notice me.\u201d<\/p>\n How can we approach that girl and say, \u201cI see you\u201d?<\/p>\n \u201cThe great thing we\u2019re learning from Project 375 is how to get beyond the surface and talk about this,\u201d says Pamela \u201cSissi\u201d Carroll, dean of UCF\u2019s College of Community Innovation and Education<\/a>. \u201cMost of us are aware of the signs related to those who live with disordered eating or who suffer from physical abuse. But what do you look for with mental illness? Brandon and Michi are saying, as caring human beings, we shouldn\u2019t leave people to handle it on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n Flaky. Grumpy. Moody. We\u2019ve all made judgments about people, which is why Project 375 targets schools, where assumptions are still being shaped.<\/p>\n \u201cCollege campuses can drive societal change,\u201d says Bryce Hagedorn \u201900MA<\/strong>, associate professor of counselor education<\/a>. Hagedorn attended the first presentation from Project 375 at UCF earlier this year, where Michi shared \u2028a mental health first aid kit with 150 people. He says, \u201cThis is just as important as making sure everyone knows how to perform CPR. We\u2019re at the front end of a shift in how we think about mental health. We can thank the Marshalls. They have a powerful story, and they\u2019ve done us all a favor by being open about it.\u201d<\/p>\n [divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n