CREDIT: JEN DOEDE
Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) Student Life Co-ordinator, Kate Morris, filled out a word bubble answering the question 'I take care of my mental health by'. The bubbles will be available at the Bell Let's Talk Day photoshoot area.

On Jan. 31, the Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) will be hosting two mental health initiatives on campus for students. The initiatives aim to get a conversation started regarding the topic of mental health and show students that they are not alone and there is support and services out there for them.

Bell Let's Talk Day

The first initiative is a photoshoot area to help raise awareness and funds for Bell Let's Talk Day. According to the Bell Let's Talk Day website, once a year, the company donates five cents towards mental health initiatives for every applicable call, text, tweet, social media video view and use of the company's Facebook frame or Snapchat filter made on that specific day.

To help increase the conversation surrounding mental health, the FSU and student success advisors downloaded a toolkit from the initiative's website, which contains word bubbles for students to fill-in. The word bubbles ask questions such as ‘what does mental health mean to you?' and ‘I take care of my mental health by'. At the photoshoot area students are encouraged to fill out a word bubble and post a picture of themselves or with their friends holding up the word bubbles to social media. The photoshoot area will be in Forwell Hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the word bubbles will be available in Forwell and F Hallway.

What's your big lie?

The second initiative is an interactive event created by Jordan Axani called ‘What's your big lie?' “The premise behind it is that everyone is holding onto something, everyone has a lie. Sometimes it can be debilitating to hold these secrets inside,” Kate Morris, Student Life Co-ordinator for the FSU said. “How this event works is that screens will be set-up and students can text their lie [anonymously] to a phone number. It can be a simple lie or a life-altering lie that they just need to get off their chest. All the lies will show up on the screen throughout the day so that other students are able to see what different and similar situations others are going through.”

According to the Shift website, the organization that runs the ‘What's your big lie' program, other students in the audience will have the opportunity to respond verbally to submissions from participants, in order to offer them hope and supportive messages.

“This will be our first time having [Axani] and his team on campus for ‘What's your big lie'. I think it will be very impactful for students who are able to participate,” Morris said. The “What's your big lie' event will take place in Forwell Hall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“Whether you are new on campus or have been here for a year, you are not alone. We have a lot of support services for students, such as Counselling and Accessibility services and the FSU. Reach out if you ever need anything because I guarantee you that you will find the support you need one way or another,” Morris said.