Time to engage with your campus! Activities and events are a great way to bring interest to your club and educate your peers. If you're just starting out you can start with small activities or presentations in collaboration with your local NAMI Affiliate, or if you're ready for something bigger, you can begin thinking about larger scale events for the year. The great thing about this program is that you can take inspiration from our downloadable NOC Event Planning Guide, or create your own unique activities and events that work best for engaging your audience. 
 

Collaboration

As being part of a college campus, you have many opportunities to collaborate with different organizations on your campus to your advantage. Consider connecting with your school's Residential Life coordinators to ask if you can provide a presentation to incoming freshman or transfer students living on campus. This could spark interest in joining the club, or provide basic info to help students know that there is a place on campus for resources when or if they need it. 

You could also talk to the Psychology Department to see if they would like to collaborate on an event to talk about mental health as a career. Many students are still searching for their calling and this could be a great introduction to the many ways a person can work in the mental health field. 
 

A great way to expand the conversations surrounding mental health could be collaborating with cultural clubs on campus to discuss cultural stigma. Your club leaders can talk with the collaborating club leaders to discuss boundaries and how best to facilitate the discussion in a productive and healing way. NAMI Sharing Hope or NAMI Compartiendo Esperanza are great programs to help facilitate these discussions. If supporting this type of activity, it is important to listen to the community you are serving and respecting their capacity and boundaries.

Presentation Ideas

Not all club meetings or events have to have an activity component. Your club leaders can provide an educational presentation or bring in your local NAMI Affiliate to provide a presentation. Here are some ideas you can bring to your club:
 
  • Campus Mental Health Resources
  • How to support a loved one's mental health
  • Developing Personal Boundaries
  • Importance of Self-Care
  • Communicating Your Needs
  • NAMI In Our Own Voice - Talk with your local affiliate about getting trained as a presenter or bringing in someone to present
Click here for a downloadable PowerPoint template.

For more ideas, download the Planning Your School Event.

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