Muslim Mental Health Initiative

With finals just around the corner, UC Berkeley students and organizations offer tips on how to destress and events to help the campus community avoid mental burnout. 

Where there are gaps in mental health services at UC Berkeley, student organizations are looking to fill them. 

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, sparking conversations about resource accessibility and destigmatization among UC Berkeley health services, student-led organizations and the city of Berkeley.

After watching her community face a “genocidal threat, physical and mental harassment and isolation,” ASUC presidential candidate Khwal Rafique decided she wanted to help alleviate the pain that marginalized communities feel on campus.

In the aftermath of the New Zealand Christchurch shooting Friday, both UC Berkeley’s Muslim community and that of the wider Bay Area came together, mourning those lost and demonstrating solidarity through an evening vigil, campus community outreach and notes posted on Sather Gate.

These projects are student-led and reflect the wide range of wellness-related needs of the student body.

You see, four months before I moved to Berkeley and started the semester, I was diagnosed with anxiety and clinical depression. Two months before starting the semester, I had just became accustomed to my pills and was becoming so dependent on my therapist, who allowed me to release and express myself in ways I never thought I could.

Campus sophomore Nuha Khalfay announced Monday night her intent to run as an independent ASUC Senate candidate in the spring 2017 elections.