By Jorge Aldaco
Upon walking into room 113 on the South Gate campus, the Psychology club was erupting in laughterfrom playing a charades game called Heads Up.
Someone was holding a card on their head with a suggestive phrase while everybody else was busy trying to act out the suggestion to the person.
The game was primarily played as a team-bonding moment and because they were limited on time.
The club also visited Universal Studios Holloween Horror Nights for a scary time.
The club president Eunice Chavez, plans to make trips with the club such as to visit the Industry of Death, a museum in Hollywood which criticizes the mental health industry and its drive for profit.
Also, the club has guest speakers attend the club and assist students in creating and building a resume.
“We decided to charter a separate one to give South Gate students more opportunities to join and run a club since not all students go to the main campus,” Chavez said.
The surrounding areas of the South Gate campus have offered Chavez and the club to help spread information to students and to the places they live.
“When we have speakers, we make the workshop available to students and the community. Students spread the word and the surrounding area benefits when they attend. They receive valuable information at no cost to them,” Chavez said.
According to nursingtimes.com, those who are affected by mental illness deal with stigma in their everyday lives.
“There is so much stigma associated with mental illness because it is a hard topic to discuss, sometimes culture and education affects the ability to understand the topic,” Chavez says.
With help from outside and combined efforts, the club will hopefully take small steps to promoting mental health, ways of resolving it and about the field the club strives for.
“This is our mission statement: to promote a greater awareness of the field of psychology. … Through education and interaction, we will help to eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness,” Chavez said.
Despite the mission statement, the club focuses on other topics that can go hand in hand with mental disorders.
In October during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the club set up a table at the South Gate Campus with pamphlets and sheets with information on domestic violence.
Also available on the club’s table was agency contact information for anybody experiencing domestic violence.
Condoms were given out with no judgement.
The club hones on a friendly environment, and individuals like club vice president Ruby Mendez and club adviser Maria Mayoryk add to the hospitality.
With plans to go to a UC psychology program, the club hopes to help with the curing mental illness within our communities.
The club meets every Tuesday from noon to 1 p.m. and every last Monday at 1:30 p.m. in SG-113.