With a goal to bring awareness to mental health and suicide awareness, student organization Promise 16 was approved by the Student Government Association (SGA) on Jan. 30 according to Haleigh Pannell, a sophomore psychology major, the founder and president of Promise 16.
The group aims to help supplement existing mental health resources on campus, according to Pannell.
“I created a group for a safe space to talk about mental health issues and raise awareness for suicide,” Pannell said.
The group meets once a week and currently has about 40 people, according to Pannell.
“We have once a week meetings that are more about the support group. We talk about universal and personal mental health issues,” Pannell said.
Emma Giambalvo, a sophomore communication studies major, said she joined Promise16 to promote mental health on campus.
“I joined Promise16 because it is super important for Longwood students to be able to have access to mental health resources other than CAPS, there are not many other resources to take advantage of,” said Giambalyo. “I appreciate that Haleigh was able to create this organization, because our campus will surely benefit.”
The organization was named Promise 16 because every 16 minutes someone in the United States commits suicide, per Pannell.
According to Pannell the specific theme varies week to week.
“We usually watch a video about some type of theme, last week we watched a video…from Buzzfeed, about a guy who jumped off the Golden Gate bridge, tried to commit suicide. He survived so he’s a motivational speaker. This week we’re going to talk about self love, because of Valentine’s day,” said Pannell.
The organization is local only to Longwood and not nationally affiliated, according to Pannell.
“This (Promise 16) is the original version of the group, it’s not anywhere else,” she said.
According to Gimbalyo, they have only had two meetings for far, but they have been impactful nonetheless.
“Promise 16 is something I look forward to every week,” said Gimbalyo. “I have already met so many new people, so it means a lot to know that I have a kind and caring support system around me.”
In addition to the weekly meetings, Promise16 helps with out of darkness walks and a video project, according to Pannell.
“We are sponsoring the out of darkness walks,” Pannell said. “It’s a night time walk, you walk a mile. There’s glow sticks and it’s really cool…Some members of ours are going to do that, we’re working with COPES (Club and Organization Preventing Every Suicide).”
The major project that Promise 16 is creating on its own is a video project, based off of the organization’s name, according to Pannell.
“We’re doing our own project, which I came up with,” Pannell said. “It has to do with the name, you promise to do sixteen (nice) things.”
The goal is to have people do sixteen nice things, record them and then Promise16 will create a video, according to Pannell.
“So you promise to do sixteen nice things, like giving sixteen high-fives or (sixteen) cupcake(s),” Pannell said. “Then you record yourself doing it once, send it in (to Promise 16). I’m going to put all of it together in a video of all the good things that we’ve done for the day.”
Gimbalyo praised the organization’s impact on her life.
“Promise 16 helped me because I know there is a group of people that will always be open to talking with you, no matter the subject,” said Gimbalyo. “You’re guaranteed a support system.
According to Pannell, the organization is on social media and has Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts.
