"Everybody vs Stigma" takes place at Northville High School
(CBS DETROIT)- "Everybody vs. Stigma" week gave students the opportunity to learn and speak about mental health education and wellness at Northville High School.
"To care. To care for each other and care for themselves," mental health advocate and former Detroit Lions quarterback Eric Hipple said when asked what he hopes students take from the mental health seminar he spoke at for students.
Hipple was a guest speaker as "Everybody vs. Stigma" week wrapped up with a seminar where Hipple was a guest speaker. The day featured speakers, private journaling sessions and therapy dogs for students after a week full of events highlighting mental health awareness.
Hipple came to speak to students to share his stories as an outreach specialist. He lost his his 15-year-old son to suicide and says his experience is what motivates him to speak at schools.
"And I don't wanna see another kid have to go through that. And I certainly don't have to see, you know, a parent have to go through that as well and lose someone," says Hipple
"It's the biggest way to bring awareness to all of these different mental illnesses and help people just live a better life," says 11th grader Zahra Kagal about the seminar.
Kagal is the secretary of the Color my World club at Northville High School, a group that promotes mental health awareness among students. She says they had a small part in making the "Everybody vs Stigma" week come together when it came to providing student feedback.
Events like the Color Run 2022, help the group raise money to provide peer to peer mental health outreach activities. Kagal says hearing stories like Hipples help the Color my World club not only reach students within the walls of Northville High School, but anyone struggling with their mental health.
"I'm hoping that it starts a bigger conversation within our school that I think a lot of people are either embarrassed or just not. They don't know enough about it to be able to talk about it with their friends. But I'm hoping it doesn't become a topic that people tiptoe around too much and it becomes a more comfortable part of our conversation," says Kagal.