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BY MAKI SOMOSOT

In print | Published February 25, 2010

Swarthmore is a hotbed of opinionated and passionate individuals, but the prevalence of their causes — including, but not limited to, social activism, environmental justice and gender equality rights — may have left out the silenced, private struggles that still need to be acknowledged by the student body. The Body Image and Depression/Anxiety Support Groups will focus on addressing issues of overall psychological well-being and functioning among Swarthmore students.

These confidential support groups will help students confront their personal problems with depression, anxiety, stress and body image, which includes eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. They aim to fill a still-existing gap within Swarthmore’s support system.

“There is no larger conversation among students on campus, no confidential place,” Jessica Schleider ’12, co-facilitator of the Body Image support group and co-director of Speak 2 Swatties, said. “A lot of controversial issues are talked about here at Swarthmore, but not mental health issues.” Schleider added that such issues are often “skirted around” by students.

“The discussion groups will be a great opportunity for people to start talking about the stigmatized pressing issues that affect many people on this campus,” Melissa Cruz, who serves as co-director of Speak 2 Swatties along with Schleider, said. “It can become a safe support network for students who need it.”

The support groups are a specialized initiative of Speak 2 Swatties. They are borne out of a need to survive in high-pressure, stressful academic environments. According to Schleider, this is not particularly conducive to the “expression of mental health issues.” She discussed the implicit expectation that Swarthmore students always need to be “on top of everything,” and how this mindset could potentially contribute to the aggravation of psychological health.

Support group co-facilitator Lori Barkin ’12 expressed the same sentiment about the work-intensive culture. “There is a constant sense of guilt looming over everyone for not being productive and successful enough,” Barkin said. “Even guilt for missing class if you’re sick, or feeling bad for going to bed early if you haven’t done your homework.”

Like Schleider, Barkin alluded to the presence of “troubling attitudes of self-perfection” that Swarthmore students harbor towards themselves, inevitably leading them to “sacrifice health and happiness.”

Director of Counseling and Psychological Services David Ramirez, who served as official point person and adviser to Barkin and Schleider for the initiative, suggested that modulation is key for students who want to maximize their Swarthmore career in a healthy manner. “Swatties throw themselves into whatever they’re doing,” Ramirez said, advocating balance between “intellectual needs” and “ordinary life needs.”

The support groups will address issues such as body image, depression, anxiety and stress management. Schleider noted that people often take these issues for granted and fail to “register how common they are.” According to Barkin, body image issues, for instance, are considered the “most obvious problem in American society, but also the least spoken about.”

“The beauty standard is an uncomfortable standard so people skip over it,” Barkin said. “Most of us internalize it.”

Through discussion, the Body Image support groups will attempt to deconstruct the beauty standard three-fold: assessing the impact of Swarthmore culture on body image, evaluating body image in popular media and ultimately reclaiming a healthy relationship with food.

The groups will not follow a rigid thematic structure, and will not remain exclusive to exploring only these specific issues. For now, Schleider and Barkin plan to “play them by ear” and allow the support group participants to share any nature or form of personal experience.

Before the initiative began, interest in holding discussion groups had already been sparked in the student body. Schleider describes that she had received “overwhelming feedback and responses” from students after she posted announcements in the Reserved Students Digest. This proved to be instrumental in the overall process for officially starting up the groups.

“We’re just here to serve the college where we see a need,” Cruz added. “We’ve known that there has been a need … for quite some time.”

Instead of one-on-one professional therapy, the groups will follow a peer support model where participants rely on each other as “lifelines.” This involves the open sharing of mutual experience, concrete advice and empathy.

“People often feel isolated in what they’re going through,” Schleider said. “The groups will provide a confidential, safe space to talk about issues.”

Students are promised absolute confidentiality of their participation in the groups. Besides this one logistical similarity, the structure and intent of both groups diverge fundamentally from CAPS, Swarthmore’s home counseling and psychological services.

“[The support groups] are completely student-led and student-owned,” Ramirez said. “They would be a more attractive option to students, and the absence of us professionals might promote that.”

Despite thematic distinctions, both groups will equally emphasize building emotional solidarity between the participants through the open communication of their personal issues. Ramirez noted that the advantage of support groups over therapy is that participants will be “getting a reaction from people who have experienced the same things.”

Students stand to gain a host of positive emotional benefits from the peer support model. “People have a lot to offer people — affection, encouragement, sympathy and common sense,” Ramirez added. “There is less of a focus on these in therapy. And we’re not peers.”

In response to how the groups will complement students who are already in CAPS, Ramirez suggested they would “serve as an adjunct to therapy” and “reinforce the network of support services around campus.”

Coinciding with the culmination of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, the first Body Image support group will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday in the Peer Counseling Center, which is located in Room 312 in Upper Tarble. The documentary “Dying to be Thin” will be shown tonight at 7 p.m. in Science Center 101. Tomorrow night, a speaker from the National Eating Disorder Association will be discussing body image myths, promoting positive self images and building self-empowerment at 7 p.m. in Sci 199.

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