(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to Journal, I'm Steve Kendall.

The National Institute of Mental Health reports that one in four adults experience a mental health disorder in a given year.

The National Organization on Mental Illness or NAMI is an organization dedicated to mental health and is the mental health community.

We're joined by Ashley Hartman from the Wellness Connection at Bowling Green State University, which also deals with of course, a lot of mental health issues and the mental health of student, staff and faculty here at the university.

Welcome to The Journal, Ashley.

- Thank you, glad to be here.

- And the Wellness Connection obviously deals with physical health and mental health.

And one of the things that I always find interesting is that, we're generally more aware of our physical health because we hear about it all the time.

But mental health is still health and it's just as important if not more important than our physical health.

And that's one of the reasons that you work with the Wellness Connection and deal with mental health.

Because obviously, as we said, one in four adults has some sort of mental issue every year.

It might not be a severe issue, but it's still, 'cause I know when I go to my doctor's office, they always ask me, "So how are you feeling?

"Are you feeling anxiety about anything?"

All of those questions I give you.

And there are days probably, when most people would say, "Well, yesterday I didn't feel like running a marathon, "but didn't mean I was having a lot of difficulty."

So talk a little about what you do with the Wellness Connection, with regard to mental health issues.

I know you work closely with a lot of organizations.

- Absolutely, so my position was created a year ago.

I'm a health educator with a mental health focus.

And so just like you said, we know that there's a huge connection between your mental and physical health.

And so we at the Wellness Connection, as well as Recreational Wellness at BGSU have a program called THRIVE where we offer a variety of programs that promote mental and physical health.

We do free exercise programs called Move For Your Mood, mindfulness workshops.

This semester, we're doing a lot of more free yoga programs.

So we know that taking good care of your physical health, even things like sleep, making sure you're eating regularly, all these things are really important for your mental health.

And you mentioned sometimes folks are struggling more, maybe it's something that short term.

And the way I like to talk about mental health is it's a continuum.

So just like physical health, maybe you have a day where you have a cold, it's something you can manage at home.

You take a day off and you're feeling better.

Other times you're a little more sick and have to go to the doctor.

Other times maybe it's so severe, you're in the hospital.

And so mental health is similar.

All of us experience what I call mental health colds.

So all of us have periods of time we're not feeling as well.

So we need to do things like talk to our friends and family, maybe do some self-care, some activities that bring us joy, that help us relax.

Other times maybe we do need to seek out a professional, and that's why you mentioned in the primary care setting, it's so important they do those screenings.

Most people are gonna talk about their mental health first with a physical healthcare provider, like primary care.

And so it's really important that they do those types of screenings.

Some other things we do at the Wellness Connection, I run a therapy dog program called the BGSU PAWS Team, promoting the human-animal bond.

We've had students come up and they miss their pets at home or they're just adjusting to being at college for the first time.

We work very closely with the counseling center, and so this week, or this month is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

Just before this, we put a display out in the yard there between the education building and the library with flags representing college students that have been lost to suicide, some educational information.

So we just wanna get out there on campus and in the community to educate folks, look out for each other.

- Well, and you make a good point there too, because we have people coming back to, in some cases, a new setting, people coming back to the academic year at the university, you have students of all ages going back to school, whether it's pre-kindergarten, elementary, junior high, high school, that sort of thing.

So there are a lot of changes and a lot of pressures that come with that, and especially if you're away from home, as you mentioned, students are coming here, they miss home a little bit, which everybody does.

Do you have people that come in and talk to you about that, or how do you approach people?

How are you able to reach out to them and get them to say, Hey, you know what, the PAWS program, because I'm familiar with one of the dogs that's in that.

And they really do love that.

And it does give them sort of this idea of being at home a little bit, being familiar, something that kind of just makes things relax a little bit.

So, talk about how that all works.

How do you get people to come to you and want to talk about this?

- Absolutely, I think a big thing, especially on campus is reaching people where they are, that's why we're gonna be tabling in the union today, doing some education.

We're doing a campaign right now called Take Five to Save Lives.

We're encouraging our whole campus community to either learn about the warning signs of suicide, to talk to other people, educate them as well, come to awareness type events, be an advocate for normalizing talking about suicide.

So meeting people where they're at, and something we know, especially with our population is they wanna talk to their peers.

So one thing we're doing is with the counseling center hosting some first year belonging discussion groups.

And so really the intent is for students to develop their own definition of what does it means to belong?

Because there's a wonderful organization called the Jed Foundation and they've created a model for comprehensive college mental health.

And so social connectedness, reaching out to students in need.

Those are such critical pieces and you mentioned a variety of ages, we know these are things that benefit everybody.

So building healthy relationships and partnering with a variety of folks on campus and in the community, you mentioned NAMI there, NAMI Wood County, our local affiliate is a huge partner.

They've done Question Persuade Refer Trainings, which is a suicide prevention training, it teaches you, if you are worried about someone, how do you talk to them?

That's not an easy thing, you can be a counselor for 10 years and it's still Hard.

- It's difficult to know exactly how to approach sometimes.

And we're approaching the end of the segment, but when we come back we can talk about this.

One of the things that we'll want to talk about, especially is how can you recognize when somebody is suffering, in a little bit of distress, IS maybe feeling not 100% today as you mentioned earlier, they've got that little bit of a mental cold going on.

So when we come back, let's talk about how we can see maybe the signs of our friends, or maybe someone is just someone we happen to notice somewhere else while we're walking around or whatever.

Back in just a moment, we're talking with Ashley Hartman from the Wellness Connection, with our focus on mental health here on The Journal.

Thank you for staying with us here on The Journal.

Our guest is Ashley Hart from the Wellness Connection at Bowling Green State University.

And we're really specifically looking at mental health issues.

One of the things that we've talked about, a range of things so far, but just as a lay person in this, because that's what most of us are.

We don't have your level of expertise and your background, how do you recognize maybe, when someone is struggling a little bit, suffering a little bit, what are some of the signs that you could look at and say, "Well, maybe I should do something," then we can talk about what should you do or not do, but how do we recognize maybe when someone is having a little bit of an issue on a day?

- Another way I talk about mental health, it's your ability to live, laugh, and love, it impacts your relationships, your daily activities.

And so actually as a person who knows somebody like a friend, a family member, faculty at the university, you are probably gonna be the first person to notice a change in somebody.

So for example, is there a change in their appearance?

Something different from the norm, withdrawing from friends, family, things that used to bring them joy, kind of noticing some ambivalence.

And the wonderful thing is as a lay person, as a person out there looking out for others, you don't need to know all the nitty gritties of is it anxiety?

Is it depression, is it this, is it that?

You just need to see that they're struggling.

And so the biggest thing, honestly many people wanna ask for help.

So I hear all the time, "I don't wanna say the wrong thing.

"What if I embarrass them?"

I mean, especially with college students, I work with, and I've worked with law firms, accounting firms, and people don't wanna seem weak.

There's so much stigma, "I'm not capable."

"They're gonna take away responsibilities" for say, student leaders.

And so oftentimes just reaching out and saying, "Hey, I've noticed X, Y, Z."

Something really objective, "Haven't seen you out at lunch lately.

"What's going on?

"Do you want to talk?"

And sometimes just listening is gonna be what that person needs or it can be that opportunity to start that conversation of "Here are some resources that could be helpful."

No one wants advice.

- Sure.

- What they do need is information, reassurance.

- And I think, probably just the approaching, if you know, sort of what you might want to ask about or inquire, but it is a good point that when you say, "Oh, look I've noticed it's a different "kind of a shirt you have on today."

Or "I notice you're wearing green today."

Things like that, things that happen out of the norm and yet you have to approach them in a way that says, oh, it's a friendly general approach.

Not "Are you feeling okay today" because that's probably not the way you want to go into it.

Or is that-- - Hey, you're not looking so great - You're look terrible today.

How are you feeling?

- You're caringly curious.

You're noticing there's some things going on and there's some things to consider when you approach someone, you wanna be in a quiet, private place.

- Because you said people don't wanna appear to be weak, they don't wanna be embarrassed, so you wanna do it in a setting that keeps it a little bit more private then.

- And many of us have relationships, we're sarcastic, things like that with loved ones.

And so just having an honest conversation.

And "Hey, what's going on?

"I'm concerned."

Expressing that reassurance is really key.

It's okay if you're not feeling so great, that all of us struggle.

I think one thing that I really do with my students, that I work with is let them know, Hey, I struggle too, it's okay.

And we're actually hosting a panel at the end of October where we're having faculty, staff and students speak about their experience with mental health.

And I talked with faculty and often they'd say people perceive that everything was fine.

I was successful, so how could anything be wrong?

So just letting folks know, it's not a weakness.

There's lots of help out there and people can and do recover, that is so critical.

The message of hope.

- And I think, as you mentioned too, the fact that just being aware and noticing that maybe someone needs a little bit of attention can make a lot of difference and then maybe you get them to open up a little bit and then you can suggest, well, maybe you should contact this person or go to this office, they can help you with that.

But it is that initial approach I think that makes everybody a little hesitant because you don't want to intrude.

You don't want, because occasionally you'll probably get, somebody says, I'm perfectly fine, why are you bothering me?

Which in itself might be a sign of maybe things aren't exactly right that day.

And if you do encounter that, what's the best way to kind of back off at that point?

Because if they say, what do you mean?

What are you talking about?

I'm perfectly fine.

And then they just, how do you, what's the best way to kind of say, oh, just checking or what should you say in that situation?

- Yeah, and you talked about too, a variety of ages.

So even with kids, just letting folks know if, and when you're ready or you need someone to talk to, I'm here, you've planted a seed.

Sometimes that's enough.

And I think one of the biggest struggles and when I've worked with the National Alliance on Mental Illness so much of their work is with loved ones, loved ones can feel helpless, that there's nothing they can do.

And all that you can do is be a resource and be available when someone's ready.

That's their journey, it's sometimes a long journey, but you're letting them know that when you're ready, I'm here.

- Yeah, you're there.

Now, when you talk about students, and you touched on this earlier, are there certain anxieties or certain things that come up somewhat regularly as students come back, especially if this is their first year in school, the first time they've been away from home, let's say, or this far away from home, are there certain things that you automatically know you kind of need to talk to them about or address in a group setting and say, "You're probably feeling a little bit like this, "don't worry, here's some things you can do "to work with that."

- I think a big thing at the beginning of the year, especially our first year students, this could be anyone though, it's just that adjustment period.

They're away from all those supports that we talked about that are so critical to mental health, loved ones, family, friends.

- [Steve] Familiar surroundings even, something as simple as that.

- Even just managing their own time, managing their own meals, just managing your own bedtime.

So just kind of getting into a healthy routine.

I think too, what we see a lot of academic stress and I really talk with students, "Your academic success is important to you" "and so is your wellbeing, so how do we manage that?"

And obviously midterms finals, we see an uptick in stress, and often folks just really struggle with sitting with discomfort.

So that's kind of a thing we try to instill those skills in students of when you are going through something difficult, how do we go through that?

Or is it a situation where I have to make a difficult decision, maybe this major, no longer serving me and I need to make a hard decision, a relationship is no longer working.

So, giving them the tools and resources and skills to navigate that, which I think the sooner you can learn that the better.

- And I thought it was interesting you mentioned the fact and it's something that of course I'm separated from by a few years, that experience of suddenly, you are responsible for everything in your life, or it feels like that and that in itself can be an overwhelming experience because before, okay, you were probably living with a parent or parents or people like that and there was some structure there.

Now there's structure here, but you have to manage some of that structure.

and maybe that's not what you've been as good at as you thought you were.

So that is, that is a high stress time because suddenly it's like, oh, I've got to remember to do this and this and this and this and this.

And there's no one there to say, "Hey, by the way, "remember, it's time to get up.

"It's time to go, you're supposed to be over here.

"Remember you're going over there today."

You have to manage all that yourself.

And for initially that's a lot of things to take on for some people, so that's why this is such a critical point when they arrive here and even coming back, if this is their second, third, fourth year.

- We see it across the board and our graduate students, going into professional degrees, everyone and our faculty and staff, it was interesting.

I spoke to a group of faculty at the beginning of the year and it's been kind of rough the last few years.

- Yeah, it's been different, different kind of stresses for them too.

Well, when we come back, we'll pick up on this and a couple of other topics I know we wanna cover.

We're with Ashley Hartman, from the Wellness Connection at Bowling Green State University.

And our focus today is on mental health, back in just a moment.

Thanks for staying with us on The Journal.

We're talking about mental health and our guest today is Ashley Hartman who works with the Wellness Connection at Bowling Green State University.

One of the things, and you mentioned in one of the discussions we were having, that overcoming the stigma, because people are reluctant, they feel like they don't wanna look like they're weak, that sort of thing.

So how do you overcome that particular stigma of, "Oh, I feel like I should talk to somebody about this, "but I don't feel comfortable doing that."

Or I think there's something wrong with me because I feel like I need to talk to somebody about this.

So how do you break through that barrier?

And then once someone has done that, there's probably some people who probably look at this and go, "Well, she had to go see a counselor "the other day, so I'm not sure what's going on there."

So how do you work with both those things?

Both the person themselves who feel, "Oh, there's something really wrong with me."

And then the outside world was and says, "There's something not right going on there."

what are the ways you work with that to overcome that and to basically educate the rest of us on that particular aspect.

- It makes me think of an experience I had with an intern.

She was really struggling with a lot of anxiety.

She came into my office, she was crying.

She was feeling overwhelmed.

And I said, "Hey, if you need to go home, go home.

"If you wanna stay, stay, go back to your desk, "do something kind of relaxing."

And she said to me, and this really struck me, "Ashley, you didn't sign up for an intern like this," gives me goosebumps thinking about it because I told her, if you were sick with any physical problem-- - [Steve] We wouldn't think twice about it.

Good point, good point.

- And that's why I'm a huge advocate too, for self disclosure.

I'm someone that lives with mental illness and it's a journey and they live a full and meaningful life.

And so I really try to, when I do education, that's why I love the National Alliance on Mental Illness, they truly lift up people with lived experience and sharing their stories.

There can just be this belief that you're weak.

Think of any portrayal of people living with mental health conditions in the media.

- They really don't wanna reveal that at all because it affects their persona and their persona is not one of perceived weakness in any way.

- And so for me, I really try to advocate for this message of hope and recovery.

I'll tell you what, people who live with mental illness, they're some of the most resilient, strong, brave people I have ever met.

Because it's a journey that you're on and it's a non-linear one and so the more that we can advocate for accurate portrayals of individuals with mental illness, I always think of the movie "A Beautiful Mind," I think that's such a wonderful representation.

So representation matters, I think providing spaces where folks can get support from other people, I'll tell you what, even as someone who's lived with mental health conditions for many years now, you always struggle with it.

This is my job and I still have moments where I think, "Oh gosh, is this limiting me in some way?"

I have a wonderful family that encourages me.

So finding that support and reassurance, you're not alone.

You mentioned that one in four, you stop and think about that's and you're like, wow.

- Yeah, that's a serious number.

And yet, and those are the ones we're aware of because obviously we know that not everybody is as forthcoming.

And I thought it was interesting too, that you mentioned the fact, and I guess as you were talking, I thought, because physically you mentioned the intern, you can see when somebody physically doesn't or you can tell like they cough or there's something about them.

This is something that doesn't present itself in a fashion that we're sort of you saying, "Oh, I can tell you're you're sneezing, "you got a cold today."

This is something that doesn't show those kind of outward symptoms.

And we say we can see physical health, we can't see mental health the same way and that's the challenge I think for everybody.

And I think too, and you mentioned this, that we all believe we're doing the best we can at what we do, but then there are days when we go, "Oh, that didn't go as well as I thought it should," but you can't make that your focus, as you said, you have to be resilient.

well, we're gonna do better the next time.

And that's what you have to think with the same way here.

It's like some days, as you said, you're riding this sort of roller coaster, this sort of non-linear path.

And that's how you have to view it, that yeah, there's gonna be ups and downs, there's gonna be turns and S-curves and dips and dives and that sort of thing.

- Something that makes me sad is on average folks can go up to 10 years who are struggling with mental health symptoms before they get help.

And so a big thing I encourage and I do the work I do, I'm open about my own mental illness, so people come to me, people I haven't talked to in years.

And the thing I advocate for is you can feel better.

Why wait to feel better?

And you know what, there are a variety of resources.

For some folks, it's yoga meditation, for other folks, it's working with a counselor, for other people it's starting medication.

And honestly what we see for improvement in people's wellbeing is that combination approach.

And finding what fits for you and that can change over time.

When I was first diagnosed, I wasn't a parent yet, and now I'm a parent, I have a two year old.

So, your needs are gonna be different.

- Sure, and that's really an important point because something that works today, you might have to modify it a week from now or a month from now or year from now, because you are different a week from now month to year from now and your, and your circumstances, your environment has changed, that sort of thing.

And we know for a fact, one size doesn't fit all, let alone one size fitting one person necessarily, in a continuing basis.

When you look at that and when people, as you said, wait that long, obviously that's an education thing.

That's a comfort zone thing saying, "Oh, it's okay for me to come forward."

Because you mentioned too, in a lot of professions, you're not allowed to be anything but perfect.

And that's a pretty heavy burden to carry.

And know that you can't misstep, you can't act, you can't make one mistake or be perceived as being not fully a hundred percent all the time.

That's in itself almost feels like somewhat affecting your mental health simply because the sheer pressure of it and not being able to ever step back and go look, "I'm just a regular person here, "I'm not perfect."

And yet there's certain things where we all strive to be perfect in everything we do.

And that in of itself is a difficult thing to manage.

- It's so hard and I think that's why I talk about my students.

And even in our staff meetings, we start with, we call it a rose thorn and a bud, something that's going well, something that's a little hard and something we're looking forward to and how can we, and I worked for an employee assistance program, which works with workplaces around mental health, how do we just create that new norm within the spaces we're in?

May it be a workplace, may it be within your sorority, may it be, you know, even just within your family, how do we normalize that it's okay to talk about things?

We all struggle and one of the biggest factors that motivate someone to reach out to professional help is talking about it with a loved one and again, no one wants advice.

"Well, you should see a therapist" that doesn't feel good, but say, "Hey, have you ever considered talking to someone, "a professional?"

That could be really helpful?

We know for certain people that can be really challenging, try once, got to find someone who's a good fit.

So those are the things that I think really make a difference.

- And I think the thing you've really made clear is that the important thing is to be aware yourself, and as people who may look at someone and say, "Gee, maybe I need to ask them something today."

Maybe I need to interact with them in a way that approaches what you think might be bothering them.

And I think that's really the important part is being comfortable, either reaching out, if you feel like, I really need to talk to somebody about this or reaching out to somebody to talk to them about it.

And that's where we have to, all of us, I think, have to find an area where we feel comfortable with that and have somewhat of the skills to be able to be aware that, well, maybe I do need to talk to somebody or maybe that person needs somebody to talk to today.

- I think if I was successful in my career, that's the end goal, if people are struggling, they know how to seek help and other people are looking out for each other.

- That's good.

And of course, as far as the university is concerned, people can find your group of people, your office very easily, and you're there available to them, whether it's staff, faculty, students, whomever, but all of this applies to the community at large too, because everyone, wherever they are faces certain challenges and certain things that some days are not as enjoyable as others.

And yet you don't wanna make that your focus, you said, don't make that the end and be all of what you are, who you are that day, that as you said, there are multiple facets here to this, so, great.

Well, thank you so much for coming on, Ashley and we appreciate this and as things come up and we wanna talk more about this, 'cause obviously this is something that requires a huge amount of education, a huge amount of awareness so that we can all be as wonderful people as we want to be and enjoy life the way we should be able to enjoy it.

So thank you so much for coming on.

- Glad to be here, thank you.

- Thank you.

You can check us out at wbgu.org, and you can watch us every Thursday night at 8:00 pm on The Journal.

We'll see you again next time.

Good night and good luck.

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