On Tuesday April 12th, Counseling and Psychological Services became part of an event known as Fresh Check Day to help improve student’s mental health and wellness.

“I think one of the criticisms that might happen for common mental health promotion events, wellness events is that their often tabling events.” Director of CAPS Nicholas Pinkerton said as he discussed how most events such as these can be boring so they decided to be part of a program that is more engaging, interactive and fun.

There a number of colleges in Connecticut and even the New England area that have also adopted the program. Fresh Check Day is the signature program of The Jordan Porco Foundation and they work with many differnt colleges to fund and plan the event that includes: music, a live band, free food and prizes all to benefit mental health and wellness.

The tent that CAPS ran was the 9 out of 10, which is a major program in the Jordan Porco Foundation and the mainly touches upon suicide prevention. The idea being that one out of every ten students seriously contemplate suicide, therefore, nine students have the opportunity to intervene and recognize the signs and support that person.

Other tents included Bystander Intervention, stigma prevention, alcohol and drug safety. And when you collected five out of ten stamps from attending each tent, you got a chance to win a prize.

Due to weather conditions, the event could not take place on the GSU lawn, but inside the Gengras Cafe South and CAPS hopes to host it again next year, hopefully with better weather conditions.