by Katy Swordfisk
May 17th 2019
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1 in 5 adults in the United States live with a mental health condition.
1 in 25 (10 million) adults in the United States live with a serious mental illness.
Half of all lifetime mental health conditions begin by age 14 and 75 percent by age 24, but early intervention programs can help.
For Mental Health Awareness Month, Portland State University Fitness & Wellbeing Coordinator Erin Bransford was looking for something that would allow PSU’s Campus Recreation and the Center for Student Health and Counseling to collaborate. Something unique. POUND fit the bill.
Campus Rec doesn’t currently offer POUND classes — best described as a high-intensity fitness class where participants use drumsticks and rhythmic movements to exercise — but Bransford said there have been requests in the past to do so.
And thus, with a little play on words, POUND Out Stigma was born.
About 20 members of the PSU community gathered in a Campus Rec multi-use room May 15 to try out the potential new class and learn about mental health from SHAC Director of Counseling Services Marcy Hunt. Hunt utilized breaks during the hour-long class to share statistics about mental health.