Fresh Check Day hosted its fourth annual event to combat the stigma around mental health and increase awareness about personal health and wellness.

 Tables lined up in the Student Center atrium on Wednesday, Sept. 18, focused on various activities promoting mental health, with booths providing access to resources and information on how to help, along with coloring, therapy dogs and aromatherapy.

Kathleen Lieblich, assistant director of Student Advocacy and Prevention Awareness, also gave some insight on her work on the project. “Fresh Check Day is a large-scale mental health and wellness event … focused on reducing stigma, connecting students to resources both on campus and in the community and checking in with you and checking in with you on how to check in with each other, giving you tools and resources to be the best students you can be and the best peers you can be and all of that,” Lieblich said. “[It] is a great opportunity to talk about all facets of mental health.”

The tables consisted of student- and volunteer-run booths. The Long Island Crisis Center’s Pride for Youth, dedicated to the LGBTQ community and its allies, had a tabling presence led by Matthew Palmer, the youth health advocate coordinator.

“We just want to let people know we’re close by, and we are here for the community, the allies and to bring people together,” Palmer said. “Maybe you’re feeling scared that you’re in college, and that you [either aren’t] out yet or you don’t know anyone who identifies the same way you do. You can meet them here at Hofstra, or with us at Pride for Youth.” 

Ettiman Kaur, a freshman biology major, described her experience at Fresh Check Day. “I went to a Catholic school, where it was all, ‘We’re not going to really talk about it.’ But here, it’s a lot more, ‘Let me teach you guys this.’ It makes me feel better [to know] that I can make a difference or change,” she said. “The first table they had [offered] coloring sheets for whenever I feel stressed and they have positive messages on them, so I want to put it on the mirror in the dorms.”

Outside of the therapy dog room was the aromatherapy table, headed by Russ Smith, the associate director of Residence Life. “[We] were just talking about some of the healing properties of various essential oils,” Smith said, explaining the properties of the five oils he had on display. 

Smith also mentioned various ways residents on campus can use the oils – since diffusers aren’t allowed in the residence halls – including putting them on cotton balls around their rooms or in their cars.

“[Fresh Check Day has] grown every year and I just think that [it’s nice] having one day set aside to talk about health and wellness … for students to see and engage in all the ways they can be well,” Smith said.

Lieblich also remarked that it was the four-year anniversary of the event, as well as her time with the University. “It came with me,” she said. “I came into the office four years ago and this was the first event that I brought to campus. And I’m happy to say a whole generation of students later, it’s now tradition! It’s cool to hear students say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s the traditional program … that’s what always happens.’ It’s nice to hear that that’s how the students are recognizing [the event] and the students are seeing it as a program that happens every year and that they remember it.”

Among all the tables – each tasked with discussing different parts of mental health including anxiety, mood disorders and insecurities – Lieblich singled out her favorite as the 100 Ways to Help. 

“Suicide is the second-leading [cause of] death in teens,” Lieblich said somberly. “So, this booth it’s a tree, and we’re all connected: right from our roots, all the way up to our leaves. I think it’s sort of an abstract version of a family, and a community … Our goal is to get a hundred different ways that you can help a friend. [We just need to] have [these] conversations and not feel uncomfortable or stigmatized, because everybody is going through things and the goal is to combat suicidality and improve the lives of our students.”

Ethan Martin, a senior math major, commended the usefulness of Fresh Check Day and Lieblich’s mission. “It makes me feel better about myself and about other people around me,” Martin said. “[It’s nice] knowing that there are people out here who care enough to set up a full line of booths, just to let people know they’re not alone – because feeling alone sucks.”