College students everywhere face mental health challenges and often struggle in silence, feeling alone and afraid to reach out for help.
Wellness Services and BroncoBOLD aimed to break that silence and have important conversations across campus through their annual Suicide Prevention Week. The week-long campaign featured a variety of free events for students to participate in, educating them about important student resources and connecting them with support.
“It’s important that students and their families understand that we have support systems and resources in place to not only keep them here as students, but to keep them well as individuals,” said Justin Herbert, a health educator with Wellness Services.
Herbert, who has been a key organizer of Boise State’s Suicide Prevention Week programming for three years, explained helping students who are struggling with their mental health is a key factor in ensuring those students succeed in school.
“If a student is not well outside of the classroom, that makes it really difficult for them to focus in the classroom and to graduate or accomplish whatever they want to accomplish,” Herbert said.
The collaboration between Wellness Services and BroncoBOLD allows the campaign to impact communities across campus.
“BroncoBOLD is the athletic arm of what Wellness Services gets to do for the entire student body,” Herbert explained. “They’re there to get them connected to resources and make sure that they know where to turn to when they need help.”
The theme of this year’s Suicide Prevention Week, ‘Here for You’, served as a reminder that students at Boise State are never alone, and there is always someone who can help them when they are struggling — even after Suicide Prevention Week is over.
“We are continuing to foster the ‘Here for You’ message and trying to incorporate well-being into every facet of the student experience, as opposed to just Suicide Prevention Week,” Herbert said.
While only a small part of the mission that Wellness Services and BroncoBOLD share, Suicide Prevention Week laid the groundwork for the change they hope to make on campus by starting important conversations about mental health and setting a positive tone for the year ahead.
CHALK THE WALK
On Monday, students brought a touch of color to campus with the Chalk the Walk campaign. Tables with chalk kits were available at different locations across campus, allowing students to cover the sidewalks with encouraging messages and bright drawings.
“Chalk the Walk was an initiative that BroncoBOLD started,” Herbert said. “It started with Suicide Prevention Week, and then they were able to get it to the BroncoBOLD high schools that they had and eventually got it to City Hall. Everyone ‘chalks the walk’ on Monday with positive messaging for people to check out when they’re walking around campus or around the city of Boise.”
YOU DONUT KNOW HOW MUCH YOU MATTER
As students decorated the Quad with positive messages, volunteers handed out donuts and shared information about Suicide Prevention Week and Wellness Services.
“Ultimately, it’s just a low-key day to promote those resources [to] make people happy and to start the week out on a strong note,” Herbert said.
Aside from free donuts, students picked up magnets, stickers and other freebies featuring the ‘Here for You’ message. They were also invited to add their handprint to the ‘Here for You’ sign — a symbol of the connection and support within the campus community.
HERE FOR YOU FEST
On Tuesday, dozens of tables filled the Quad for the main event of Suicide Prevention Week: ‘Here for You Fest’.
From free pizza and snacks to important conversations about mental health, the Quad buzzed with activity. Volunteers tabled at the event to connect students with campus resources, such as the Campus Food Pantry, Student Financial Services and the Advising and Academic Support Center.
There were some other special guests at the event, too — therapy dogs.
Students played and cuddled up with adorable dogs like Duke, a therapy dog who used to work in the Dean of Students Office.
“Duke’s main role is to build relationships with people and create a little bit of happiness,” said Michelle Tassinari, who accompanied Duke as he excitedly played with students. “There’s a lot of neuroscience behind human animal interaction and bonds. When humans look into an animal’s eyes, we have an increase in serotonin and dopamine. That’s really the benefit of having animals around, and that’s what Duke has done today — lots of smiling, lots of pets and snuggles.”
Student volunteers known as Peer Health Educators also connected with students. Ellie Winger, a junior studying political science, greeted students as they arrived at ‘Here for You Fest.’
Winger stressed that she deeply values having the opportunity to help fellow students during Suicide Prevention Week.
“This allows me to be a part of something bigger than myself,” she said. “A lot of kids are definitely struggling, but don’t open up about those things and push it aside just because they’re dealing with school academics and extracurriculars. I’ve experienced that too.”
Winger said depression is a very real and widespread problem on college campuses and isn’t talked about enough. She said she believes events like ‘Here for You Fest’ are important because they show students they have support.
“You may not know individuals such as myself or other people who are working these events on campus, but we are here for you,” she said. “You may think that you don’t have that community, but there is support for you out there. Even if it’s just getting a slice of pizza or playing with the dogs, it’s just the idea that between classes, you may find support in the quad that you didn’t know existed beforehand.”
MUFFINS, MENTAL HEALTH AND MINI HORSES
On Thursday, students paused in the Quad for more snuggles with some adorable animal friends, this time with the miniature horses of Mini Joys, a local nonprofit organization that uses animal therapy.
“We have our mini horses and an awesome group of volunteers,” said Founder of Mini Joys Laurie Bell. “We try to bring joy and hope to those who are facing tough challenges.”
Bell said Mini Joys works with a wide range of individuals, from special education students to memory care patients. They use the horses for both emotional support and educational experiences, teaching valuable life lessons about kindness and resilience.
Bell added that being invited to participate in Suicide Prevention Week was “near and dear to [her] heart.”
“We’re glad to do anything we can do to talk to people on campus about emotional health,” she added. “We feel that by discovering your strengths and your talents, which we all have, we really try to encourage kids and adults to use that strength, to step out, take one little step to use that strength to help someone else. You’ll see that it’ll bring a lot of joy to you as well.”
Nikolai Pettinger, a freshman studying cellular biology, shared he enjoyed the miniature horses’ calming presence on campus. He added events like Suicide Prevention Week are valuable to him as someone who had experienced mental health struggles in the past.
“It’s nice because, if you’re experiencing stress, you can know that the community is there for you,” Pettinger said. “I think having these resources known and available is gonna be good for a lot of people.”
Through inspiring chalk messages, free food, therapy animals and important conversations, Suicide Prevention Week turned Boise State’s campus into a space of care and connection. More than just a series of fun events, the ‘Here for You’ campaign was an important reminder that mental health matters, and no student should have to face those struggles alone.
“The here for you message is something we try to drive home,” Herbert said of Wellness Services and BroncoBOLD’s collaboration. “We’re just trying to do what we can to make sure we’re as known and seen as we can be throughout Suicide Prevention Week, and hopefully that sticks throughout the entire year.”
