The University of Central Missouri’s Department of Psychological Science’s Advancement of Mental Health Lab is hosting the first-ever Mental Health Campaign. The Advancement of Mental Health Lab is partnering with indie rock band Ramona Clay to help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. The campaign is funded by the UCM Alumni Foundation Opportunity Grant and radio station 90.9 The Bridge.
The traveling exhibition with Ramona Clay kicks off at the Englewood Arts Center in Independence on Oct. 26. The exhibition includes portraits with the stories of those who have dealt with mental illness and the release of the music video of the song “Move” from Ramona Clay’s album “The Things We Don’t Talk About.”
The mental health campaign has spread across various departments at UCM, such as marketing and photography, creating the opportunity for many students to get involved. Students such as Junior Ellie Whitesell have used this opportunity to not only support a cause in which they believe but also to aid their professional careers. The UCM Alumni Foundation’s Opportunity Grant is paying for Whitsell’s portraits of those who shared their stories of mental illness to be professionally framed in the traveling art gallery.
“As a student, this has been such a great experience because I am learning all of this before I graduate which will help me afterward with clients,” Whitsell said. “I have never done a project that is going to be showcasing my work on a level like this. We are talking about a traveling exhibition with possible sponsors,” Whitesell said.
Whitesell’s portraits will include pictures of people along with their mental health stories, as well as research for treatment and resources on each mental health issue. Each portrait will correspond with one of Ramona Clay’s songs, touching on topics such as sexual assault, stalking, suicidal thoughts, PTSD, domestic abuse, personality disorder and suicide loss.
“Ramona Clay is looking to tour regionally and replicate this in other cities [outside of the Kansas City area]. Really, with whatever cities will partner with them,” Katie Jacobs, a professor of psychological science who runs the Mental Health Lab, said.
The campaign also hits a personal chord with Jacobs. “I lost a friend at nineteen to suicide and another as an adult,” Jacobs said.
Associate Instructor of Marketing Annie McCoy is also participating in the campaign. “Mental health has touched my family and I have family members that have struggled with mental health issues, such as PTSD,” McCoy said.
UCM has donated space for the mental health campaign to add a permanent version of the exhibition on campus
“The main idea of the campaign is to share that mental health is for everyone… it should bring people together, not apart,” Jacobs said.
