Psychology Awareness Week at Marshall University informed students of different conditions and career possibilities.

The lectures available to students were a mixture of mental conditions and disabilities, and classes such as Pop Culture Psychology and Psychology in Comics.

Marshall student Leslee Browning presented the lecture Transition and Adjustment from Military to Civilian Life.

Browning said the most important thing students of veterans can do to welcome them back to civilian life is to thank them and respect what they have been through.

“There’s a lot of individuals [veterans] on campus, and they’re hero’s,” Browning said. “Knowing and respecting that and kind of showing them that gratitude with a simple thank you can go a long way. Also just showing that support and being able to respect and honor an individual who has served.”

Britni Black, coordinator of Psychology Awareness Week, explained the importance of the week to students.

“It’s an event we put on every year to get,” Black said. “Especially freshman intro psychology students into the department and to see what all is available to them within psychology, and kind of what they can do with their degree that’s a little bit different from the traditional therapy route that most people kind of think of.”

Psychology Awareness Week was put into place to both inform the public on mental health disorders and ongoing mental health research.

“A lot of students on campus are very unaware various mental health issues,” Browning said. “It’s kind of just bringing psychology and what we offer and what we do as a department to the campus community.”

Presenters relied on past research, current passions and mental health issues when coordinating their presentations.

“Everybody who did a presentation kind of tried to find their own niche,” Black said. “Some people pulled their own research and other people who were just passionate about certain things. Leslee (Browning) did veterans because that’s what she has been passionate about forever. Elijah Wise did comics. Everyone finds something they are passionate about and uses it to focus on and show people that there are within psychology that they can play with a little bit.”

The week was more than lectures, it was a way to get students out of the traditional classroom setting and experience many different topics in a short amount of time.

“It’s not just your traditional lectures to sit through,” Black said. “You get to see a different perspective that you probably wouldn’t get in your traditional lectures.”

Black said the purpose of the conference is to share the research of undergraduate students with the local psychological community.

“(We are) trying to get younger students who may not have a lot of research experience yet into that side of the field to see what they can do and get them some experience before they go to grad school,” Black said.

Kelsie Lively can be contacted at [email protected].