Nov. 28, 2024 and even his home country. “I had to fi nd a therapist in Croatia,” he said. M ental health is important. Mental health is complex. Mental health is stigmatized and very often ignored. Truth is, people around us suff er all the time, usually alone and in silence. This silence is deafening though. Carrying a heavy burden alone is devastating for those who suff er. A burden that cannot be bottled up or easily communicated. What if we created a safe space for people to speak up? What if we cared for each other at least a bit more? What if we were open about mental health? The power of vulnerability and acceptance is capable of breaking down every wall. Sometimes it just takes one question or one embrace to make people feel heard and loved. These are the stories of brave AUBG students whose vulnerability and honesty deserve respect and appreciation. In order to preserve their right to stay anonymous, each student will be referred to by random pseudonyms. Jay, a junior at AUBG, seemed rather nervous to start the interview. Understandably so. “Where to start?” he asked with hesitation, and, after a couple of seconds of mutual silence and shared sympathy, he opened up. “I am defi nitely suff ering from mental illness (depression),” he said, sharing that, unfortunately, AUBG has not been able to give him much support. As a freshman, he took the initiative and went to the university counselor. He left the room so disappointed that he did not go back for another two years. “It was so dreadful. It was so bad, she is just there to get paid, it is simply frustrating,” he said. He felt disregarded: “I go to her with serious issues, and she just applies it to having a bad day. Did I not just tell her that I was struggling?” He decided to fi nd somebody else to ask for help, outside AUBG, outside Bulgaria, 10 Fall 2024 | AUBG Daily Later in the conversation, Jay pulled out a box with pills and asked: “Can I make a live demonstration?” He shook the box a couple of times and then took one pill. “Last batch of antidepressants was so bad for me that I did not feel anything. I was a shallow person,” he said. Pills are defi nitely not a quick fi x for mental health issues, and as Jay elaborated, they can do as much harm to a person, as provide help. This explains why his journey with antidepressants has been in a way troublesome. Recently, he was prescribed a new set of pills which will take up to three months to show any eff ect. Jay hopes that this time they will be more helpful and can alleviate his struggles. “It is a combination of recent events and childhood trauma,” Jay shared. “My school life was so bad, that I felt suicidal for a year or two,” he added. Things did not get easier for him at AUBG. He felt increasingly worse, and the only person who managed to help him out was a friend who worked at a gym reception. Apart from being a friend, she was also his personal trainer. After her graduation last year, Jay has been suff ering more: “I am completely isolated, I have pretty much nobody here. I am silent, alone with my laptop and studying.” “You just do not know what to do. The counselor does not help. Any mental health event is during the most intensive class periods, and it takes a massive tragic event for anyone to start caring,” he said. He felt angry and disappointed: “What does it take for people to actually take mental health seriously?” He views the AUBG community’s response to mental health topics as a vicious cycle: “People just tend to move on. Tragedy happens, some people start caring for mental health and then they forget,” he referred. “People do struggle with mental health, and they are mostly silent, they cannot cry out for help, they cannot yell, they will remain in silence,” he added. Two weeks after the interview, Jay took a step and visited the new counselor, despite his past disappointment and many doubts. The good news is that the new AUBG counselor was able to off er him actual help. They sat down, talked through Jay’s situation, and set a plan for future meetings. The reality is it took him three years to go back to the university counselor. He shared how he had to convince himself against the hesitation to reach out for help one more time.
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