The student-led club, PAX seeks to bring peace to Taylor University through events such as their Walk for Life.
PAX is an organization, part of the Taylor Student Outreach (TSO), that seeks to encourage mental health awareness, providing informational sessions and events to educate and encourage students and faculty. After hosting their first event, Walk for Life on Sept. 10, the PAX cabinet felt affirmed by the community in their purpose, senior Harley Mason, mental health education specialist, said.
“PAX is a group of people who love the Lord and understand that we live in a fallen world and want to use the gifts and abilities that the Lord has given us to reach those on our campus who are struggling with mental health,” Mason said. “We just want Taylor to be a campus where mental health is not an abnormal conversation and where people feel supported and loved — from a biblical standpoint as well in their fight for mental wellbeing.”
As a newer club on campus, PAX is collaborating with other organizations to bring future events to life. Mason said that their cabinet feels confident about the response PAX is receiving — which enables their members to have the confidence needed to serve.
Mason’s goal for PAX is to help people who are struggling in silence and make them feel seen, heard and cared for. Because mental health has a connotation, people find it difficult to speak up and get the help they need.
“Our focus has to be about creating a world where people aren't scared to speak up,” Mason said. “They're welcome to come as they are. They don't have to bury these things that they're dealing with deep down just to be welcomed into like a community and especially, especially a community of believers.”
The biggest obstacle PAX has is the stigma around mental health.
Public stigma refers to the negative attitudes society has toward people with mental illness, according to Psychology Today. Self-stigma or internalized stigma is an individual with mental health illness internalizes the negative attitudes.
PAX’s goal is to provide a safe and inclusive space where students can openly discuss mental health and seek resources through a supportive community on campus, junior Will Lot, president of PAX, said.
However, the conversation of mental health should not stay within PAX and the Counseling Center. Lot hopes that the mental health conversations will surpass the PAX events and take place inside residence halls.
“The overall goal of PAX is to bring peace to campus, and not only that but flourishing as well when it comes to mental health and mental health advocacy,” Lot said. “For me, I see PAX as a way to connect with students — student-to-student connection — just reducing the stigma behind mental health and mental health support and letting people know that they're not alone on campus.”
Getting faculty involved with PAX is another obstacle. Lot said that in conversing with professors, they do not think about their own mental health. They are thinking more about their students’ mental health — not themselves.
Lot emphasized that professors teach and exert a lot of energy into their work and the curriculum the same as the students.
“What we're focusing on is the holistic health of students, faculty and staff on campus — in every aspect,” Lot said.
The PAX proposal began last year and came into effect this fall semester.
Kenley Blake, former student body president, drew the PAX proposal last school year. Lot said that Blake noticed a need for mental health advocacy and support on campus through the lack of counselors at the Counseling Center.
“Even before the pandemic, schools were facing a surge in demand for care that far outpaced capacity, and it has become more difficult now,” Laura Edwards, Psychology Department chair and associate professor of psychology, said.
Edwards said based upon a research study that collected data from 373 campuses, the majority of college students are susceptible to having at least one mental health problem — a nearly 50 percent increase since 2013.
Not every student needs individual therapy. Edwards said that many just need opportunities for early intervention, increased resilience, learning to build new coping skills and connecting with one another.
