Mental health of students is subject of summit

Photo by Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta
Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels speaks about his struggle with depression during Seton Hall’s mental health summit.

Seton Hall University recently hosted the first inaugural New Jersey Higher Education Mental Health Summit.

Staff from more than 40 New Jersey colleges and universities and mental health experts from across the country came together to share best practices to support college students.

More than 500 participants were there and more than 350 professionals and front-line practitioners from student affairs, campus police and safety, residence life, athletics, diversity, equity inclusion and justice staff, health services, first-gen programs, advisors of EOP/EOF and other campus representatives attended.

Karen Van Norman, assistant vice president dean of students, addressed the audience and thanked them for being there. “You’re here because you care about students,” she said.

Katia Passerini, interim president of Seton Hall, said young people are experiencing a mental health crisis beyond proportion.

“This summit is very important,” Passerini said. “Strong connections create that web of care students can rely on when things get tough. I hope this is the first of many more summits until the day we won’t need them anymore. The best way to solve a problem is to acknowledge it exists.”

She continued to speak about the movie “Barbie,” the highest grossing movie of 2023, which is about the expectation of a perfect world.

“There are two worlds,” Passerini said. “The real world and the ‘Barbie’ world. The real world is messy. It’s not pink. When Barbie allows herself to cry, she feels icky, but good. We’re gathered today to give hope to our students, we can create our own blockbuster.”

Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way praised the people in attendance for being there.

“Kudos to each and everyone of you who have shown up today,” she said. “We’re truly at a crisis moment. Rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal tendances are at an all time high. This is an issue that affects so many of us.”

Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels, co-founder of the legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and mental health advocate shared his story and struggles.

“None of that means anything if you ain’t right inside,” McDaniels said of his success. “I was confused. I was lost. I was scared. I was weak. There was a void in me — this confusion, this emptiness, this pain.”

McDaniels said he did not know that there were people, places and things that could help him. He was suicidal.

“If I die tomorrow people know the DMC story, but they don’t know the story of Darryl,” he said.

He wanted to write a book and contacted his mother for details he didn’t know such as where he was born and in what hospital. His mother shared the info,
but then called him back. There was something else, she said – he was adopted.

When he met with another person who was also adopted, it made him feel less alone. “I was able to talk about how I felt being adopted.”
McDaniels went to rehab to stop drinking and discovered therapy.

“I can talk about how I feel,” he said. “I could be proud of that. That’s what saved me. The greatest thing I’ve done in my life was go to therapy.”

At therapy, McDaniels was diagnosed as having suppressed emotions. With therapy, he was able to pinpoint what was going on within him.

“The DMC thing was just a set up for what I was put here to do,” he said. “If you don’t admit how you feel — good or bad — you’ll never heal.”
McDaniels said he would like to remove guilt and shame from discussions about mental health.

“We don’t have the antidote, but we’re here to assist you,” he said. We have to talk about it every day. Continue to work together. Truth is in front of us every day. Keep it real, tell people how you feel. If the mental ain’t right, nothing is right.”