“Tomorrow needs you.”
“You are not alone.”
“You are seen.”
“You are loved.”
Colorful index cards with these affirmations laid on a table at the Student Wellness Advisory Board’s first tabling event of the year Sept. 13. SWAB members and students wrote the affirmations for passersby to give to their friends and peers or take one for themselves.
The suicide prevention awareness tabling was one of three other events SWAB hosted, including tabling with the Counseling Center onSept. 19, Coffee & Consent on Sept. 21 and another tabling event Sept. 28.
“A lot of students aren’t necessarily going to want to talk about it [suicide],” said senior and co-president of SWAB Kaitlin Gartrell. “We’re trying to make it more approachable for students and kind of a more positive light so it’s something that they feel more comfortable talking about.”
SWAB used a gentle approach to reach students for their first tabling event, Gartrell said.
“We wanted to start our tabling with more of a lighter programming because part of suicide prevention is reaffirming your friends and making people feel seen and loved,” Gartrell said.
SWAB hosted its second tabling event with the Counseling Center on Sept. 19. Students could complete anxiety screeners and talk to a school counselor at the event. Within an hour, students filled out all 100 screeners, sophomore and SWAB ambassador Sydney Wilson said.
“SWAB likes to partner with them [the Counseling Center] because it helps us make it more of a community,” Wilson said.
Senior Jase Jones stopped by SWAB’s third tabling event Sept. 21, to grab a cookie and learn about the red zone. The red zone is the time between new student orientation and Thanksgiving break when 50% of sexual assaults on campus occur, according to a handout from SWAB.
“The events that they’re doing now are beneficial,” Jones said. “A free Crumbl cookie and whatever makes it an inviting environment.
Jones said he didn’t know about the red zone before SWAB brought it to his attention.
“Now, obviously being in that time period [of the red zone], it makes me more apt to look out for or be there for anybody that’s struggling with anything related to that [sexual assault],” Jones said.
First-year Gabby Sebastiani said she “1,000%” thinks SWAB’s tabling events help Pepperdine students.
“Just knowing that there’s an organization on campus is very helpful — or would be for somebody who’s struggling or people who are just wanting to know more about it,” Sebastiani said. “It’s really important to have something like that on college campuses.”
For their fourth tabling event Sept. 28, SWAB will pass out sweatshirts to students. The sweatshirts will say “Remember you are” on the front and “Enough, irreplaceable, valued, seen, heard, loved” on the back, said Gartrell.
Tabling is a way for SWAB to get the Pepperdine community talking about important issues like suicide, anxiety and consent, Gartrell said.
“Helping the community know what to watch out for and how to help those they care about is really what we’re aiming for,” Gartrell said.
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Contact Millie Auchard via email: millie.auchard@pepperdine.edu
