By Cheyanne Admire
The second annual Out Of the Darkness Walk held at Louisiana Tech raised over $10,000 to go to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention.
All of these proceeds will go directly back to the community.
The idea to hold the event was crafted by Dr. Mallory Garza, who is the assistant director of student health and wellness in Tech University’s Counseling Center.
“I knew that I wanted to bring some kind of suicide prevention to campus,” Garza said. “I started looking more into the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I decided on organizing a campus walk aimed towards increasing awareness, education, programming and training to help stop suicide.”
More than 170 registered participants, along with others, joined together for the one-mile walk around Louisiana Tech’s campus.
“Mental health is so important and I really admire the counseling services for going above and beyond to reach as many students as possible,” said Savannah Stewart, a student at Tech.
Garza said the counseling services plan an outreach for each month.
“The emphasis this month is on self care,” said Garza.
For example, today Counseling Services will hold a Destress Day at the Centennial Plaza from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. with several different activities offered. They plan to have puppies, a bash car and a stress ball making station.
Louisiana Tech also offers mental health services for full time students at no additional cost.
