By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Breathe Coffee House launched the Can We Just Talk program last fall as a means to give people an informal way to talk to someone about things that matter.
The program was aimed in part to take some strain off of Fort Hays State University's Kelly Center, which had seen a sharp increase in students seeking mental health assistance.
SEE RELATED STORY: Can We Just Talk? connects strangers with those needing caring listeners
The program also sought to destigmatize mental illness and make it easier to get help.
Then the coronavirus outbreak occurred.
Students in FHSU's Leadership 310 class were tasked with finding a way for the program to continue when people couldn't physically get together to talk.
The students developed the idea of the Big Zoom. Breathe founder Patrick McGinnis and the Leadership 310 students will be hosting two Zoom meetings aimed at giving people an opportunity to learn more about mental health and empathic listening.
They will be at 8 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Saturday. The Zoom login information for the Thursday meeting is https://fhsu.zoom.us/j/99923059325 Meeting ID: 999 2305 9325 Password: 458997
The Zoom login information for the Saturday meeting is https://fhsu.zoom.us/j/94655417900?pwd=VVVFZE5ueFVOMmpDaG5RaVAxb3EvUT09 Meeting ID: 946 5541 7900 Password: 793579
Micayla Gutierrez, a sophomore in biology, is one of the students coordinating the project. Last fall, Micayla served as both a listener and a talker in the Can We Just Talk? program.
Her mother died by suicide last summer. She said participating in the program has both helped her work through her grief and given her a feeling she is helping prevent what happened to her mother from happening to someone else.
Working through mental health concerns have been more difficult for Gutierrez and others since the stay-at-home order was put in place at the end of March.
"I think they have," Gutierrez said. "They just don’t have the human contact. They have been trapped in their houses. It has been harder."
Gutierrez said the isolation has been difficult, but she is finding ways to cope.
"Thank goodness for Facetime," she said. "Otherwise, I would be stuck in the house doing homework. It definitely has been a little more difficult."
The students will give a PowerPoint presentation, but the event is also meant to spark community dialogue.
Because the event is being conducted online, it is open to the community and FHSU students and faculty, even those who have gone home to other communities.
Up to 100 people can be on the Zoom meeting at one time.