Last week at Concordia College was Mental Health Awareness Week. Obviously, this is an important issue that needs to be talked about. There are information boards set up in the foyer where dining services is, and there was a speaker Monday night giving a lecture about mental health. Chapel on Tuesday had prayer stations, there was a panel discussion Wednesday, and Friday night had a walk event.

This is all great, but it's not enough.

There are only two tables with information set up, when there's so much that could be talked about. Different ways mental health is compromised and how, the stigma around mental disability, the resources that are available on and off campus, different mental disabilities and ways to combat them, and ways that students without disabilities can help are just some of the things that could be on these boards. The boards do have information on some of these, but with only a few three-fold poster boards available, they can't go into much depth about any of it.

A speaker is a good idea, but the only advertising for it was posters. Posters can be a good advertising tool, but at this point in the year a lot of people don't even look at them, unless they're flashy. I didn't get a single email about it, and heard absolutely no talk about it. The only thing on the website about it is on the calendar, and even then it just says it happened. In fact, looking up mental health awareness week brings up almost nothing, and nothing about this week.

The walk is a unique, fun idea, but it also was barely advertised, and the panel I didn't hear about until the day before. Even then, these events aren't enough. There could have been a documentary showing. There could have been seminars for students to learn how to improve mental health or help somebody they know with mental disabilities.

There could have been more, and there needs to be more.

A week a year isn't enough to combat the stigma around mental health, and not enough to inform people about mental health. A lecture and two tables with information isn't enough. There should be multiple weeks dedicated to something that affects us all.

We need discussion, and a week a year won't start it.