Thespians granted health class
Students research certain health issues and will present short plays pertaining to those health issues at the end of the class. It will include the students in the class, but will also include campus experts and the members of the student body who want to attend. According to chair of the theatre department Karen Berman, the class should help orient new freshmen to college life, the problems we all face and how to locate the appropriate support resources.
“It’s primarily to help (students) get resources, so that they know they can get one-on-one attention from faculty,” Berman said. “Faculty take responsibility for being a listening ear to the student.”
In past teaching experiences at Georgetown University, Berman learned how to utilize the grant process and the available health and counseling services to develop this type of class.
“I thought it would be great to do that here. In the past, it has been amazing to see what kind of scenes these students come up with. They are supposed to be based on reality. You hear a lot of difficulties and challenges in their lives. Students want to know how to deal with these problems in their dorm rooms, with friends and at home,” Berman said.
Counseling Services director Dr. Mary Jane Phillips said early adulthood is the period when a lot of major mental illnesses develop. Phillips believes mental health issues have increased in the last few years.
Last fall, a pilot version of the holistic health performance program went successfully. Counseling Services aided students with direction and feedback, relating to common mental health issues.
“In the pilot, Dr. Phillips and her team were fantastic,” Berman said. “We are looking forward to doing this on a more formal basis.”
Participating theatre students act as peer educators for each other. Individuals bring out personal issues or problems seen in their social environment.
Phillips was impressed with the positive effects performances had on mental health education in last fall’s test run.
“(Students) would get together and act out certain scenarios to demonstrate issues. The class has real plusses. Peers hear each other better in some ways than they hear someone who’s older than them,” Phillips said.
Berman said theatre holds up a critical mirror for people to see themselves in a particular production, and see how others behave and solve problems which provides a helpful self-evaluation.
“Our students can show scenarios that might actually happen, ways of dealing with them and who you go to if you’re having a problem. Part of it is to reduce the stigma of getting help,” Berman said. “It’s comforting for students to know there are others around them having the same issue, and they’re not the only ones.”
The semester culminates in a play performed by the students. After the skits, discussions involving the student body, theatre participants and the health experts involved will offer free, informative GCSU community health talk.
“Using the venue of theatre, it’s much more compelling to see someone experiencing something like that and be a part of the story,” Phillips said.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Apr 24 2009. Filed under News.
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