Main fundraiser photo

Help College Students-Mental Health

Hello Friends, Family, and Allies:



My Campus Health has articles and testimonies that explore the intersections of mental health, physical health, and the college experience.  This website has a NEW forum in development for users divided by categories pertaining to universities, disorders, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, parents and allies.  This feature is unique from other websites because users can post discussions about their own personal interests without having to share personally identifiable information, and by doing so, we are combating the stigma and allowing users not to be ashamed about privately addressing their mental health concerns.  Additionally, being able to explore intersections of identity in the forums with others will build a stronger community for users on the website.

I am doing a Go Fund Me campaign to request assistance and monetary funding for the website.  More than eighteen diverse contributors have shared their personal experiences with mental health and other disabilities on My Campus Health.  This website has the potential to be a unique vehicle for change on college campuses as a central place where students can find information about academic and counseling centers within their own universities. 

The website is not completely developed, thus I have not been able to utilize the free PR services from a company that offered help.

I am seeking funding that will allow the registration process, advertisements, forum, and aesthetic of the site to look more professional.  Additionally, I need funding for legal fees that will protect this trademark pending process.

Testimonies:

"My Campus Health is an amazing initiative because it was created by an individual as a result of real life experiences. My Campus Health is not only a fantastic support and sharing system, it is something that helps shed a great deal of light on the importance of mental health in America."

"My name is  Madeline Martinez, and I attended   Barnard College, Columbia University.  When I was in college, I  faced challenges with stress and anxiety.  There were not many consistent campus resources (on student health insurance one would be referred off-campus after maxing-out of the 10 allotted therapy sessions with a campus mental health clinician) , and many students remained silent, or under-served, when going through mental illness.  Help take student mental healthcare into the information age, and donate today."





Below are excerpts of people who have faced challenges with mental health and other disabilites.  These people have written on our website.


 Faculty

 “I’m a tenured faculty member with chronic depression. Even though one of the flare-ups was in my early twenties, I didn’t tell anyone in graduate school. Because of the stigma involved and my experience as a professor at a top tier institution…. Even now (when I’m relatively open about this), I have used the gloss of personal or family issues when going through particularly difficult times. Depression is a chronic condition. I’ve had several severe bouts through my 20 year career — and moments when the sun came out and everything felt great. I no longer hold the illusion that any sunny period will last and that I’m free of depression forever.

Alumni


During my struggle with my eating disorder, I fought being different and feeling terrible about myself. I also fought the added feelings about failing to become what my parents and those around me wanted to me to be. It was like I had this dark shadow over me.  However, it was from this experience and many others in which I ‘failed’ that I actually gained my strength and important notion that I have taken with me for the rest of my life. That is that being different does not define you and making wrong decisions does not define you. 

Students

“Before college I had a 4.0 and school was never very difficult for me. I came to college thinking that I would maintain a perfect GPA, but very soon after I arrived I found myself constantly trying to play catch up because my classes moved too fast and I was never as prepared as everyone else seemed to be.  Being diagnosed made me realize I had the same potential to excel as my classmates, and the only thing that was different was the process we took to get to the same end result. Having a learning disability isn’t something that I let discourage me at all, it is just part of who I am.”

 
Parents

I recall that instant as if it were only yesterday; It is the moment that mental illness first touched our family in the person of our son after his freshman year of college.  I wish I could say that our fears were unfounded, but the months of that first semester back were filled with the challenge of finding the right combination and dosage of medicines, a variety of side-effects, many late-night calls, and several crises moments Ultimately, our son graduated from college. Through his enduring determination and God’s amazing grace our son has learned to thrive. Of course, the journey of living with a mental illness continues for our son, our family, and our faith community. Ours is a journey of hope.

The last excerpt especially shows the importance of the need to act now!

Recently, I’ve felt that the end is near for me.  I remember reading a book a couple of years ago that described the premonitions people had leading up to their deaths; they just felt it.  I've felt uneasiness this week- it's in the air.  It's like there is something coming, but I don't feel scared.  I feel sad- like I do not have time to do everything I want to do.  I don't want to go to sleep because I feel like the clock is running and it's only a matter of time before it runs out.  I need to tell my stories.



Budget:  I have put in BOLD where YOUR contributions have gone.

Design Layout- $500 (Godaddy renewal, Purchasing of a new theme, etc.)

Before:


After:

Forum- $875 (Design, Backend, User responsiveness, Guest Users, Notifications of users, Summed up information by Category, Thread, Search Engine)

Search Engine Optimizations-$200 (meta tag editing, xml sitemap, sitelinks)

Enabling localizations- $400 

Porting existing wordpress site to Ruby on Rails- $400.  Twitter's website utilizes Ruby on Rails.

Backend for updating blog-$250

Decrease load time- $150 (better experience for users, less load on server, and more SEO)

Responsiveness Design- $500  (Customizations for mobile/tablet/small desktop/large desktop)

Server cost per year- $120, $414  (handles 200 or 400 concurrent users, respectively)

Legal fess and PR Services- $1000+ (501(c)3 registration, licensing protection, etc.)

 
You can join me and also make a difference in the lives of students who are facing challenges with mental health and others disabilities by connecting them to resources that will help them graduate!
           
Big or small your gift will count and will make a life changing contribution with many students faced with challenges in mental health and other disabilities in college! You may also donate outside of these bounds as well, even $20 dollars can make a difference!

Organizer

Benjamin Caleb McAfee
Organizer
Arlington, VA

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