Health is a top priority for college students, from mental, physical, and emotional health. At Rowan University, they have a club that focuses on all three of those areas called the Public Health Club. This week at Rowan University, the Public Health Club celebrated Public Health Week and in celebration, on April 1, the Public Health Club hosted an Art Therapy event for Rowan University students. The atmosphere was friendly and positive as Rowan University students were able to paint with each other.

“Instead of a typical therapy approach, this gives students a chance to draw out their feelings. It’s just a different way of expressing their emotions, rather than a typical therapy session where they might have to talk face to face with a therapist,” said Anna Brolly, president of the Public Health Club. With this week being Public Health Week at Rowan University, people must have the opportunity to express their feelings with painting.

“Everybody’s communicating and talking together. And again, you’re getting your feelings out on a canvas. And it’s everybody with similar interests coming together,” said Brolly. 

The event was so important for students to be able to interact with other students on campus.

“It’s honestly just to make a connection. I think it’s really important, especially in such a heavy commuter school, that people always find some type of community or connection at Rowan. I think this is one of the greatest ways to do it,” said Jessica Hawksby, public relations rep for the Public Health Club.

Connecting with people through art therapy can be exciting and inspirational.

“We want to focus on trying to connect people this semester. Particularly with this event today, there’s a lot of time for us to talk with other meetings. It might be more of a teaching style, but for art therapy, we can interact more today,” said Leah Crilly, social media representative for the Public Health Club. 

Art therapy targets an important area for college students which is mental health. Mental health is a common theme for college students, but the art therapy event will improve student’s mental health.

“It’s really important, especially as college students ourselves, even as we deal with everyday anxiety, stress, and depression. If you aren’t clinically diagnosed with any type of mental health disorder, it’s really important to make sure that your overall health also includes your mental health. We like to have these little events that help us de-stress and help us just kind of calm ourselves,” said Jessica Hawksby. 

Promoting mental health through events like art therapy will make students more aware of mental health and will educate them about it.

“We just want to get students out again for Public Health Week to promote it. We want to be able to teach them about mental health. And hopefully, some students will become more interested in public health,” said Brolly. 

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