Nurses for Mental Health Awareness: A Look Back at the Exhibit

Last week, Nurses for Mental Health Awareness, a brand new student group, premiered their "Cranes for Life" exhibit on campus. The 1,100 hand made cranes on the exhibit represented the 1,100 completed suicide attempts that occur on college campuses across the United States each year. During the week, students, faculty and staff were able to view the suspended cranes and write names of individuals they wished to honor. The names written were attached to the piping of the exhibit, which stands in tribute to those lost over the years. 

The exhibit itself promoted conversations and enabled students and faculty to view the multiple resources that exist on and off campus. When the exhibit is taken down, each string will be placed in the mailboxes of each fourth semester student, to allow them to carry this awareness forward into their practice after graduation. The students can keep the cranes for reflection, or give them to a friend or family member. 

Nurses for Mental Health Awareness, as an organization, believes that spreading hope, respect and positivity is catching and their hope is that gifting this idea forward will keep the exhibit and their passion to change how individuals talk about mental illness from fading.