Blog Post #2
Blog Reflection #2
Alessandro Lorenzo
3/24/2022
So, we concluded our second set of presentations, and what a ride it was. The main theme for the presentations this time around revolved around mental health and disabilities, and I'm so glad we ended up covering this very broad yet incredibly important topic. I'm glad that, through our own research and presentations, we were able to shed some light on mental health and the factors that surround it. Every group delivered an excellent presentation as per usual.
Originally, our (Group 1's) presentation topic was "Improving and caring for people struggling with mental health." However, since we were the last ones to present, we felt as though what some of the other groups were presenting was far too similar to our topic and what we had ready to present. Therefore, in order to not sound redundant or repeat something one of the other groups already covered we decided to change our topic ad start from scratch. I contacted Kasandra and Professor Sherri, and thankfully, we were able to make it happen. Our new topic was now "Rasing Awareness on Mental Health" which consisted of basically raising awareness and addressing the stigma surrounding mental health in modern society. This topic is incredibly important to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed working on it, researching, and helping raise awareness. We touched on a variety of subtopics such as the social stigma surrounding mental health and why it's such a taboo topic. We brought up causes such as lack of awareness, lack of education, lack of empathy, and negative use of mental health terms. We even touched on the effects of the stigma which causes discrimination, lack of understanding/ misinterpretation, bullying, lack of health insurance coverage for treatment, and the reluctance to seek help. Overall, I like to believe we delivered a great and informative presentation in class. We also spoke about how the fear of being direct and talking about mental health openly was also contributing the mental health stigma, and we of course touched on how to prevent or reduce the stigma and overall raise awareness. In the end, the possible solutions are using kind language, educating yourself, and trying to put yourself in others' shoes to better understand what they might be going through, and to of course, better understand what they might be feeling.
Moving on to Group 2's presentation, they focused their presentation on treatment for mental health. They touched on dealing with anxiety, depression and how it can sometimes me frightening or embarrassing to seek treatment and ultimately go and get it. They touched on just about every aspect of treatment including disadvantageous aspects on certain treatments such as taking addictive meds and how those meds can be incredibly dangerous if the amount of consumption is not managed properly. Group 2 also touched on self-treatment like socializing, staying connected with family and friends and surrounding yourself with a circle of supportive people which can, in the end, help you overcome just about anything. Group 2 delivered a great presentation and touched on a variety of important topics.
Next up, we have Group 3 who focused on computer use and disabilities throughout their presentation. They touched on virtual learning and the pros and cons with learning remotely. They mentioned that remote learning can affect the mental health of students because it prevents a large amount of socialization and interaction with other students and faculty. It may be more comfortable since you do not have to commute anywhere or worry about attending every single class in person, but a lot of students find it harder to learn virtually, especially those with learning disabilities who simply find it much more engaging and beneficial to learn face to face. Group 3 also gave some tips on how we can use technology in a better way in order to suit our individual needs, for example, the captions on google chrome. I had no clue I could enable captions on my browser, and I now find it super useful and may also be incredibly useful to those students struggling with remote learning. Overall, a very informative presentation.
And last but not least, we have Group 4's presentation, and their topic focused on coping with anxiety and caring for people struggling with mental health disorders. They made sure to touch on stress, anxiety, and depression and how to identify symptoms and how to properly seek treatment. They mentioned how school can, in some instances, worsen mental health problems and I think we've all been through instances that can validate that point of view. School and work can both be stressing and overwhelming, especially if you do both at the same time like many students tend to do in order to pay for their own education and to also be able to pay bills ad rent. Many students at the higher learning level commit suicide due to the stress, anxiety, and depression school can bring, especially at prestigious universities where the learning curriculums are rigorous and the pressure is overwhelming. This is why it is important to surround yourself with a group of people that will support you when you're down and be there to tell you everything is going to be okay. Group 4 did a great job at addressing these incredibly important, yet overlooked mental health issues and bringing them into the light for all to see.
Overall, I found all the presentations in class to be super great and informative. I enjoyed every single one, and I of course, enjoyed presenting along with my group and being a part of this initiative. Although I was not able to be present at the virtual symposium, (because I had to attend the in-person symposium) I was able to compress my group's presentation into a smaller presentation in order to not take up too much time at the symposium presentation. I am sure the whole class did an excellent job in presenting their own respective topics, and hopefully we were able to inform a lot of people and bring awareness to these crucial topics and subtopics.
Originally, our (Group 1's) presentation topic was "Improving and caring for people struggling with mental health." However, since we were the last ones to present, we felt as though what some of the other groups were presenting was far too similar to our topic and what we had ready to present. Therefore, in order to not sound redundant or repeat something one of the other groups already covered we decided to change our topic ad start from scratch. I contacted Kasandra and Professor Sherri, and thankfully, we were able to make it happen. Our new topic was now "Rasing Awareness on Mental Health" which consisted of basically raising awareness and addressing the stigma surrounding mental health in modern society. This topic is incredibly important to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed working on it, researching, and helping raise awareness. We touched on a variety of subtopics such as the social stigma surrounding mental health and why it's such a taboo topic. We brought up causes such as lack of awareness, lack of education, lack of empathy, and negative use of mental health terms. We even touched on the effects of the stigma which causes discrimination, lack of understanding/ misinterpretation, bullying, lack of health insurance coverage for treatment, and the reluctance to seek help. Overall, I like to believe we delivered a great and informative presentation in class. We also spoke about how the fear of being direct and talking about mental health openly was also contributing the mental health stigma, and we of course touched on how to prevent or reduce the stigma and overall raise awareness. In the end, the possible solutions are using kind language, educating yourself, and trying to put yourself in others' shoes to better understand what they might be going through, and to of course, better understand what they might be feeling.
Moving on to Group 2's presentation, they focused their presentation on treatment for mental health. They touched on dealing with anxiety, depression and how it can sometimes me frightening or embarrassing to seek treatment and ultimately go and get it. They touched on just about every aspect of treatment including disadvantageous aspects on certain treatments such as taking addictive meds and how those meds can be incredibly dangerous if the amount of consumption is not managed properly. Group 2 also touched on self-treatment like socializing, staying connected with family and friends and surrounding yourself with a circle of supportive people which can, in the end, help you overcome just about anything. Group 2 delivered a great presentation and touched on a variety of important topics.
Next up, we have Group 3 who focused on computer use and disabilities throughout their presentation. They touched on virtual learning and the pros and cons with learning remotely. They mentioned that remote learning can affect the mental health of students because it prevents a large amount of socialization and interaction with other students and faculty. It may be more comfortable since you do not have to commute anywhere or worry about attending every single class in person, but a lot of students find it harder to learn virtually, especially those with learning disabilities who simply find it much more engaging and beneficial to learn face to face. Group 3 also gave some tips on how we can use technology in a better way in order to suit our individual needs, for example, the captions on google chrome. I had no clue I could enable captions on my browser, and I now find it super useful and may also be incredibly useful to those students struggling with remote learning. Overall, a very informative presentation.
And last but not least, we have Group 4's presentation, and their topic focused on coping with anxiety and caring for people struggling with mental health disorders. They made sure to touch on stress, anxiety, and depression and how to identify symptoms and how to properly seek treatment. They mentioned how school can, in some instances, worsen mental health problems and I think we've all been through instances that can validate that point of view. School and work can both be stressing and overwhelming, especially if you do both at the same time like many students tend to do in order to pay for their own education and to also be able to pay bills ad rent. Many students at the higher learning level commit suicide due to the stress, anxiety, and depression school can bring, especially at prestigious universities where the learning curriculums are rigorous and the pressure is overwhelming. This is why it is important to surround yourself with a group of people that will support you when you're down and be there to tell you everything is going to be okay. Group 4 did a great job at addressing these incredibly important, yet overlooked mental health issues and bringing them into the light for all to see.
Overall, I found all the presentations in class to be super great and informative. I enjoyed every single one, and I of course, enjoyed presenting along with my group and being a part of this initiative. Although I was not able to be present at the virtual symposium, (because I had to attend the in-person symposium) I was able to compress my group's presentation into a smaller presentation in order to not take up too much time at the symposium presentation. I am sure the whole class did an excellent job in presenting their own respective topics, and hopefully we were able to inform a lot of people and bring awareness to these crucial topics and subtopics.
Thanks Alessandro for all of your beautiful words. Great writing.
ReplyDelete