There’s a lot of anxiety, depression and stigma on campuses. I think kids are really, really open and ready to talk about it. Glenn Close during a University of Michigan event about mental health,
Actress aims to reduce stigma on mental health
Actress Glenn Close says she wants to live in a world where mental illness is talked about openly and accepted as a fact of life.
The Emmy- and Tony-award-winning actress was in Ann Arbor, Mich., last week for a gathering designed to bring awareness to efforts aimed at reducing the stigma associated with mental illness.
“There’s a lot of anxiety, depression and stigma on campuses,” Close said while at the University of Michigan.
“I think kids are really, really open and ready to talk about it.”
Close, NFL player Brandon Marshall, rapper-singer Logic and others were visiting the campus to show support for the Steven Schwartzberg Foundation, which has launched a campaign to empower students to address issues of mental health by encouraging conversations.
The campaign is called Who Can Relate? and takes its name from a line in Logic’s hit song 1-800-273-8255, named for the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Lyrics from the Logic song include: “I don’t wanna be alive/I just wanna die today,” and “I want you to be alive/ You don’t got to die today.”
Logic also performed a concert, with profits going to organizations that share the same goal of de-stigmatizing mental illness. Among them is Close’s foundation Bring Change to Mind, which she co-founded after her sister Jennie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her nephew with schizoaffective disorder.
Also benefiting from the show will be Project375, which was founded by Marshall and his wife, Michi Marshall, after the star wide receiver was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Michi Marshall had spent part of her visit leading a mental health first aid training session. Close stopped in to check out the training and also attended a lecture by artist and social activist Peter Tunney.
The event was created by Harris Schwartzberg, who sits on the board of Bring Change to Mind and is an advisory board member of the University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Depression Center. The Steven Schwartzberg Foundation is named for Harris Schwartzberg’s brother, who died after a long struggle with bipolar disorder.
“Glenn is a person and Brandon’s a person, and they struggle and their families struggle,” Schwartzberg said.
“And it should set a great example for people to come out and speak. And that’s really the most inspiring is that they’re willing to risk their public platform to spread the message it’s that important.”