The University of Rhode Island hosted the 14th annual Be5k on Oct. 15 to bring attention and awareness to mental health and suicide prevention.
Funds from the race go to The Heather Fund, which was founded in memory of Heather Vennewald to continue to support mental health awareness and suicide prevention within the URI campus. This year, the race brought in over $6,000 according to Counseling Center Director Corey Clark.
The race was originally run by the Center for Career and Experiential Education with Sarah Miller, the assistant director of experiential education, but has since been moved under the Counseling Center within the past few years. This year was the first year the race took place in conjunction with Alumni Weekend, and Clark wishes to keep the race a part of Alumni Weekend for years to come in hopes that it will become part of the tradition for many URI alums.
“This year, there were 151 participants, which is great,” Clark said. “We had a great response from the Greek community and each year the Greek community has helped staff the race. There was a team of EMS that ran the race, they made their own shirts which was really cool.”
One of the students on the EMS team, third-year RJ Fatorma gave some insight into the importance of a race like this.
“As an organization, we wanted to run to spread awareness for an amazing cause. Suicide prevention is huge and spreading awarness for it is crucial,” Fatorma said.
Another member of the EMS team, third-year CJ Hamilton ran the race as part of the team but also for personal connections.
“Mental health is something that is very important to me. I know many friends in my life who have been affected by mental health issues and I myself have been a subject of mental health issues,” Hamilton said.
Mental health issues are not visible so holding an event like this can create a safe environment where a student may feel comfortable speaking out or talking to someone, according to Clark. This could also empower students to reach out to someone they know is struggling as well.
“One out of 10 people think about suicide, and it is the other nine out of 10 that we hope to pledge to look for and help the one that is having those thoughts.”
Now that the race is over, the University still offers a plethora of resources for students struggling with their mental health.
“There is the Counseling Center, the Psychological Consultation Center, the Family and Couples Therapy Clinic, the Dean of Students office and they do Mental Health First Aid Training on campus,” according to Clark.
Most recently, the Counseling Center implemented an app free for URI students called TELUS help to give students 24/7 chat, phone and video support, https://web.uri.edu/counseling/ .