ISPEAK

Maike Holleck, M.S. LPC-Associate

Maike is a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi graduate student as part of the Ph.D. in Counseling Education and Supervision program. Maike is also a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology as part of the I-Speak program and serves as the Campus Suicide Prevention Activities Coordinator. She obtained her Master of Science Degree from TAMUCC in Professional Counseling, emphasizing Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She then moved on to serve as a Youth and young adult mental health and life skill coach in Germany. Now her focus lies on suicide prevention within the young adult and college population, and she is excited about ISPEAK's impact on campus.

Justen Schroeder, M.S

Justen is a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi graduate student as a part of the Ph.D. in Counseling Education and Supervision program. Along with that, Justen is a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology (CNEP) as part of the I-SPEAK Program. He graduated from Wichita State University with a Master’s of Education in Counseling with an emphasis in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Sports Counseling. He has experience working with adolescents and college students in their mental health journeys. Justen’s primary area of focus is helping college students with the adjustments and developments in a student’s college life. He also has a passion for the mental health of student-athletes in all sports and capacities. Justen is excited to be a part of I-SPEAK as well as I-SPEAK's impact on the campus of TAMU-CC.

Alianna Cedillo, B.S

Alianna is a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi graduate student in the Professional Counseling program, emphasizing addiction counseling. Alianna is a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology as part of the I-Speak program. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in human sciences from Texas Tech University, concentrating on addictive disorders and family studies. She has worked for American Addiction Centers as a treatment advocate and is passionate about helping people achieve recovery.  

Abby Blackburn, B.S

Abby is a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi graduate student pursuing her Master's in Professional Counseling with a concentration in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She is also a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology in the I-SPEAK program. Abby received her undergraduate degree in biology from Henderson State University. She then worked with teenagers at a psychiatric residential treatment facility and hopes to return to that setting as a licensed Professional Counselor! She is excited for her first semester as an Islander and as a member of the I-SPEAK team! 

Ke'Tavion "Tay" Humber, B.S.

Ke’Tavion Humber is a Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi graduate student in the Professional Counseling program on the Family and Marriage counseling track. Ke’Tavion is a graduate assistant for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology (CNEP) in the I-Speak program. Ke’Tavion manages the social media account for I-Speak and is one of the QPR coordinators. Ke’Tavion completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi while being a part of the track team for five years.

Trainings are scheduled throughout the semester and as department-specific events. Please email Justen to schedule a training, or for more information: jschroeder4@islander.tamucc.edu

1. Click the "Learn how to discuss mental health issues:  Kognito" box on the left

2. Create a new account using your Islander ID for username and create a password

3. Once the account is created, sign in and confirm your account

4. When prompted to input "Student ID" use your Islander ID

5. Launch "At-Risk Mental Health for Students"

6. If at any point, you are not able to proceed, reload the tab and re-sign in (your progress is saved). 

As college students we experience a variety of stressors, and these may sometimes become overwhelming; From the beginning of the semester when we must organize our time and classes, being away from home, finances, and course workload to the end of the semester where we have finals to worry about. Fortunately for us, there are a lot of things we can do to manage these stressors! Meditation can be a useful coping tool because of its many benefits such as:

-       Improving positive emotions and life satisfaction

-       Reducing negative emotions

-       Improving subjective and psychological well-being

-       Relieving stress

-       Improved emotion regulation

-       Improved anxiety and depression levels (Liu & Lin, 2019)

The purpose of mindfulness exercises is to become aware of your surroundings and or feelings. Our mind is used to being busy and occupied all day at all times. It is hard to train it to focus on just one thing or on nothing at times to calm ourselves. These exercises can help us train our mind to become more mindful and help ourselves to clear our mind whenever we need to and when we are feeling overwhelmed. It is expected that during these exercises your mind will get distracted and wander with other concerns or thoughts but don't worry, just refocus and try again. It takes practice and repetition to be able to train our mind to become mindful. 

5 Senses Exercise

Use your 5 senses to be mindful of your environment and connect with your body

• Mention 5 things you can see
• Mention 4 things you can feel
• Mention 3 things you can hear
• Mention 2 things you can smell
• Mention 1 thing you can taste

Focus on an Object Exercise

Pick a small object that you can focus on and touch or pick up. It can be anything like a pen, a ring, a cup or something similar. Be sure to not choose something that can hurt you physically or an object that has a sentimental or emotional value because it can trigger emotions in the moment.

Once you found the object, find a place to sit comfortably with no distraction and set an alarm for 5 minutes. During these five minutes you will observe and touch the object and focus on the feelings you get from touching it or picking it and the details of observing it.

Describe the object in your mind, how does it look? How does it feel? What colors does it have? Is it heavy? Is it small? Is it cold? Is it warm? If i have to describe it to someone on the phone without saying the name of it, what would I say?

After the 5 minutes are done, notice how you feel after the exercise and return to your normal activities of the day. 

Suicide risk factors are elements that may put a person more at risk of suicide than someone who does not have them. For example, 46% of people who die by suicide were also suffering from a mental health condition (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2019). Other risks factors can be:

• Someone who lost someone they loved by suicide
• Substance use
• Access to firearms
• Serious or chronic medical illness
• Gender. Women are more likely to attempt suicide but men are nearly 4x more likely to succeed
• History of trauma or abuse
• Prolonged stress
• Recent tragedy or loss

Other risk factors include, trauma history, being part of a minority group, the LGBTQ+ community, or cultural and or religious beliefs.

Suicide warning signs are clues that can help us realize a person may be in danger or need help. These warning signs are not a prediction of suicide but they are important signs to be aware of. Some of these warning signs are, but are not limited to: (Rudd et al., 2006)

• Talking about wanting to die or complete suicide
• Looking for a way to complete suicide (making plans) 
• Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose
• Talking about feeling trapped or being in unbearable pain
• Talking about being a burden to others
• Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs
• Acting anxious, agitated, or reckless
• Sleeping too little or too much
• Withdrawing or feeling isolated
• Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge
• Displaying extreme mood swings

There is always something that we all can do about suicide awareness and prevention. It can be small like becoming informed and sharing resources and trusted information about this topic or something big like being involved in the local or national organizations that work in the prevention and awareness of suicide. Being informed about identifying the risk factors and warning signs can save lives! Sometimes being there for someone and lending a hand can make a bigger impact than we might think.

Learn more about what you can do here:

https://save.org/about-suicide/preventing-suicide/

Q&A about Suicide Prevention with University Counselor

Follow the link to ISPEAK's Youtube channel to watch a video about what to do if you or someone you know is thinking about suicide and what resources are available.

Physical health is directly related to mental health. If we have a happy body, it certainly increases the likelihood of having a happy mind. Exercise helps stress reduction, clearer thinking, and quality of sleep. Exercise also provides a means for social interaction and can help in building a stronger immune system (Raglin, 1990). Proven benefits of exercise include, but are not limited to:

-Anxiety reduction

-Depression reduction

-Boost in positive affect

-Boost in cognitive function

The following are some good exercises that work wonders for your mental health:

Walking/Running: Enjoying fresh air, feeling the wind upon your face, and simply getting your body moving can be extremely beneficial. It’s also free! No gym, or equipment required. Going for a walk or a run can also be great for processing your thoughts, and helping you find your center.

Yoga: Yoga is a great form of exercise with many mental health benefits. It also goes hand in hand with meditation. It is great for grounding the mind in reality when it spirals into anxiety. Research has also shown that it is great for lowering the heart rate, reducing high blood pressure, and relaxing the muscles. 

High Intensity Interval Training: HIIT is great in that it is a fast, intense form of working out. It’s wonderful if you’re looking to expend that “anxious energy”. When suffer from anxiety, a lot of that energy is stored in our bodies. HIIT will put that negative energy to good use.

Weight Training: Weight training has a plethora of benefits not only for physical health such as building strength and muscle, but also has many proven mental health benefits such as improved memory, better quality of sleep, and better cognition (Wilson, 2019)