Humans of St. Norbert:

“The Green Bandana Project was something that was founded by a student at UW-Madison. He noticed in his community a depravity in which students didn’t necessarily know what resources were available for mental health or healthcare in general. So what it came down to is people from all over the nation coming to this one concentrated place and there being no centralized or easy way to access what your resources were in the event that you needed them. So he printed out these cards that had resources that were available. He would give those out to students and also give them a green bandana. That made resources more available to students because let's be honest students go to students more often than they are going to go to staff members and faculty. The other effect that it had was that when a lot of students picked up on this program, you saw this wave of green bandanas all over campus and it was this profound, but silent symbol of solidarity for individuals who had a mental illness or who are going through some sort of mental health crisis. And that’s kind of what I wanted to replicate here in a little bit of a modified way because I noticed that at St. Norbert there was no way for friends to help friends.

“I had a friend who lost her battle to depression my senior year of high school and I actually was the first recipient of a scholarship that was made in her name so [starting the Green Bandana Project at St. Norbert] was also a little bit of just giving back. Beyond just that, I have had a lot of experiences with individuals who were idealizing suicide in the hospital because I am a CNA so I would come sit with them and be like a safety sitter. Those events tend to stick in your memory because it’s powerful what those people have to say. In addition to that, my significant other goes to Madison so that is how I learned about this. Once she started talking about it, it flipped something in me and I wanted to bring that here. It is something that is so good and so beneficial to students without costing the college hardly anything. It’s very very sustainable and very easy to do, so why not?

“[I want students to know] if you are having an issue or even if you think you might want the resources, just come up and ask. We won’t ask you any other questions. It is the safest way to get that information on campus. There is no mandatory reporting, you just get the resources and that’s it. We might ask you if you want us to walk you to Counseling and Psychological Services, but that’s the only question we’ll ask and you don’t have to say yes.” – Brendan Koxlien ’22