A group of four MSU students is taking steps to bring awareness to mental health issues one yoga pose at a time through the Bateman Case Study Competition.
Public Relations Student Society of America, PRSSA, is the main PR club on campus. The competition requires all chapters of the society to have the same client and they must implement a public relations campaign.
Advertising and public relations major Marisa Bennett is the campaign coordinator for the team. She said the group decided to focus on mental health and clarity, so they created the Stretch Out the Stigma events for the competition.
“Our campaign is more focused on how people take care of themselves physically but they don’t mentally sometimes,” Bennett said. “They are all one in the same. It is all health so we are saying that mental health is still health and we want to kind of promote clear your mind and working your body at the same time. We thought yoga was the perfect avenue for that.”
The event offered four classes at $5 per one hour class at Yoga State of Mind, Body and Soul in East Lansing. The campaign concluded on Feb. 26.
Bennett said this campaign is personal to and the goals of the campaign will stay relevant. Bennett has family members and friends who deal with issues that include depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
“It is really hard to see them struggle, and I know I have class friends who deal with it that go here,” Bennett said.
Bennett said she has even experienced some kind of stress or anxiety herself while dealing with the daily struggles of school.
“It is a really crazy time of school year where everyone ... all of these professors are trying to get stuff in before spring break, exams, papers and quizzes and all this crazy stuff right now and I think it is a really good time to just let go of that, just take some time to take care of yourself,” she said.
Advertising junior Kylie Koenig said she joined PRSSA to get more experience.
“I have always been more of a hands-on learner, so being able to see a whole campaign from start to finish is pretty cool,” Koenig said. “A lot of people don’t really like to talk about mental health so it kind of brings it out in a fun way because I feel like yoga is upcoming now.”
Journalism sophomore Madison Job said the goal is to reshape the way people talk about mental health in America, specifically among MSU students.
“We thought it would be nice to let college students know, ‘OK, everyone has been there, take a deep breath,’ that is why we thought yoga would be perfect because you’re literally stretching out the stigma of what you thought was attached,” Job said.
