{"id":23623,"date":"2015-03-20T13:22:40","date_gmt":"2015-03-20T17:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=23623"},"modified":"2016-01-06T09:34:17","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T14:34:17","slug":"comedian-and-mental-health-activist-kevin-breel-highlights-fourth-annual-walk-for-hope-march-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2015\/comedian-and-mental-health-activist-kevin-breel-highlights-fourth-annual-walk-for-hope-march-28\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedian and mental health activist Kevin Breel highlights fourth annual Walk for Hope, March 28"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Participants in the fourth annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Walk.for.Hope.Harrisonburg\">Walk for Hope<\/a> on\u00a0Saturday, March 28,\u00a0will wear, for the first time, the same t-shirt. For the past three years, walkers who joined the trek to raise awareness about depression and suicide among college students donned t-shirts in colors that marked their affiliation to one of four area colleges: Eastern Mennonite University, James Madison University, Bridgewater College and Blue Ridge Community College.<\/p>\n<p>This year, the t-shirts, free to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Walk.for.Hope.Harrisonburg?v=app_160430850678443\">pre-registered participants<\/a>, are printed with four tread marks, inked, of course, with each school\u2019s colors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a symbol of all four schools united together,\u201d said Suzanne Hostetler, who mentors EMU students in her positions with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/studentlife\/coachlink\/\">CoachLink<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/studentlife\/campus-ministries\/\">campus ministries<\/a> and is a member of the Walk for Hope planning committee. \u201cThe EMU counseling center is grateful for the opportunity to work alongside of JMU, Bridgewater College, and Blue Ridge Community College to raise awareness about depression and suicide prevention. We see this day as a valuable event for students, faculty, staff and community members to come together in unity and to experience hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The walk and all afternoon activities are free and open to the public. People whose lives have been affected by mental illness, either personally or through friends and family, are especially encouraged to attend.<\/p>\n<p>Participants will gather at 11:15 a.m. at Turner Ashby High School in Bridgewater, with the walk to Bridgewater College commencing at 11:30 a.m. The main event music, speakers, refreshments, and creative arts activities, which includes music, speakers, refreshments, and community arts projects starts at 12:30 p.m. in Nininger Hall. Children\u2019s activities include face painting, hula hooping, and a special art area.<\/p>\n<p>Comedian <a href=\"www.kevinbreel.com\">Kevin Breel<\/a>, a writer and activist for student mental health, will be the speaker. The 21-year-old Canadian has toured frequently on behalf of Active Minds, a national student organization that works on peer levels to change the perception about mental health. His talk \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/kevin_breel_confessions_of_a_depressed_comic\">Confessions of a Depressed Comic<\/a>\u201d was featured on TEDxKids.<\/p>\n<p>As in past years, participants can create remembrance art, adding squares to the \u201cSymbols of Hope\u201d quilt or creating \u201cHope in a Bag,\u201d personal bags \u201cto hold symbols of hope to remember for yourself or share with others,\u201d she said, adding that participatory art projects have always been an important part of the event.<\/p>\n<p>Since it began in 2012, Walk for Hope has increased in size each year. Last year\u2019s event, hosted at EMU, drew between 600 and 700 participants.<\/p>\n<p>That growth may come as the result of a tragic fact: Most college students know someone who has suffered from depression or anxiety, contemplated suicide or died by suicide. The second leading cause of death among college students is suicide, according to a 2012 study by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.collegecounseling.org\/\">American College Counseling Association<\/a>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ulifeline.org\/\">ULifeline.org<\/a> reports that depression and anxiety are more common among college students than back pain, sinus ailments, and allergies.<\/p>\n<p>The event is sponsored by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/studentlife\/coachlink\/austin-frazier\/\">Austin Frazier Memorial Fund<\/a>, which also funds an innovative mentoring program at EMU called CoachLink. The program began after Austin Frazier, a junior at James Madison University, died in 2009 after a long battle with bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Participants in the fourth annual Walk for Hope on\u00a0Saturday, March 28,\u00a0will wear, for the first time, the same t-shirt. For the past three years, walkers who joined the trek to <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2015\/comedian-and-mental-health-activist-kevin-breel-highlights-fourth-annual-walk-for-hope-march-28\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Comedian and mental health activist Kevin Breel highlights fourth annual Walk for Hope, March 28<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5583,14715,5185,4513],"tags":[12153,10530,12186,5944,15355,16510],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-23623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-campus-life","category-campus-ministries","category-student-life","tag-coachlink","tag-counseling","tag-depression","tag-giving","tag-suzanne-hostetler","tag-walk-for-hope-harrisonburg"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Comedian and mental health activist Kevin Breel highlights fourth annual Walk for Hope, March 28 - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2015\/comedian-and-mental-health-activist-kevin-breel-highlights-fourth-annual-walk-for-hope-march-28\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comedian and mental health activist Kevin Breel highlights fourth annual Walk for Hope, March 28 - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Participants in the fourth annual Walk for Hope on\u00a0Saturday, March 28,\u00a0will wear, for the first time, the same t-shirt. 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