FINDING PURPOSE AFTER PAIN

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BY CHRISTI MAYS

Student body president shares how Finding Purpose After Pain struggle with mental health propelled her to bring awareness to campus

COMMITED TO HELPING

Student Body President Emma Wayt uses her platform to help end the stigma surrounding mental health.

It was the Wednesday of spring break during her sophomore year in high school when Emma Wayt had everything planned out to end her life.

She had the bathtub water running. She had a bottle of pills in her hand. She had goodbye notes for her family to find.

“I really had it all thought out. I had notes written out to everyone important to me, and I had a will of what I wanted to be done with my stuff,” Emma said. “I was just ready to be gone.”

But then a knock came at her front door. It was her cousin, Don Wayt.

“The Lord is telling me to take you out for ice cream right now,” he told Emma.

“Don, I’m too busy. I can’t do that right now,” she retorted.

“No, you’re coming with me. I’m not leaving,” Don insisted.

Emma stomped back to the bathtub and shut off the water, and reluctantly followed her cousin back to his truck. They headed to Dairy Queen, which was just across the street.

With a knowing look, Don turned and asked his cousin, “Emma, why did the Lord tell me to come and pick you up?”

The 15-year-old broke down sobbing, admitting everything to the person she had looked up to since she was a little girl.

Emma was suffering from a chronic illness that made her life miserable. She has gastroparesis, which, simply put, is a paralyzed stomach. She didn’t have a diagnosis at the time and was vomiting five or six times daily during flair-ups. Kids at school were making fun of her, calling her anorexic and bulimic. Her illness had gotten so bad she could no UMHB FEATURES

longer run track, and to make matters worse, she suffered a season-ending shoulder injury that took her out of volleyball.

“My identity was in sports, and that was being stripped away from me,” she explained. Questioning God, the teen stepped away from her walk with the Lord and spiraled into a severe state of depression.

“Don just poured into me that day,” she said.

“Emma, this is NOT God’s plan for you,” he told her. “You have so much more to live for. God has a purpose for your life and your pain.”

FINDING A WAY TO HELP OTHERS

Looking back now, as a junior health sciences pre-occupational therapy major, Emma is on a mission to help students recognize depression and other mental health problems early before they find themselves struggling in the same deep, dark place she found herself years ago.

“I don’t want anybody to ever feel the way I felt—alone and isolated,” she said. “My whole goal is to make them realize they are not alone— ‘this is hard, and it’s not going to alleviate overnight. But this is something that we can get through together.’”

Emma had never given any thought to running for student body president, but last year, when she realized God had provided a platform for her to help promote mental health on campus, she didn’t waste it. It all started when she was a freshman, and she was recruited to join the Student Government Association (SGA) to serve as chaplain. She loved it, and the following year she stepped up to serve as director of spiritual life. When she entered her junior year, she realized the person running for president was running unopposed. She decided to see what God wanted her to do.

“I prayed about it for a solid week, and that is where God led my heart,” she said but admitted she never thought she would win.

Still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, running on the platform of “better mental health and reducing stress” proved popular, and Emma won the vote!

NAVIGATING LIFE

Top, Licensed Professional Counselors Karlie Butterworth and Karen DuBroc encourage students to seek free and confidential help at the Student Counseling Center. Center, Student Body President Emma Wayt and other members of SGA hand out donuts between classes as part of their monthly “Donut Stress” event. Below, to help destress, Emma likes to work in her sticker painting book.

“I decided to not share my mental health journey during my campaign because I didn’t want a pity vote,” she said. “I didn’t want to make it about me, but make it about my platform. I wanted students to understand what mental health is and why it’s important to take breaks and rest.”

Since winning the presidency, she and the other 35 SGA members have continued to carry out her vision with monthly events like “Donut Stress,” where SGA members stand outside and hand out donuts as students race to class.

“For me, whenever I’m stressed out, the first thing that goes is my eating,” Emma explained. “So, even though it’s a sugary doughnut, it’s still calories—it’s still sustenance.”

STIGMA-FREE ZONE

The SGA events this past year have focused on helping students relax and destress. The group has even partnered with Student Counseling Services and the Psychological Science Club to help host events like “End the Stigma.” With bunnies to snuggle, deep-breathing demos, art therapy, and more, the event’s goal was to bring awareness to mental health and break the stigma often associated with it.

“There’s such a stigma surrounding mental health. You’re looked at as weaker, or less-than, sick, or crazy,” Emma said. “Words like that can be so damaging to someone. I know I can’t fix people’s mental health overnight, but what I can do is educate them about it. It’s OK to have stress, but at high levels of stress, seek help. I’m getting people connected to resources.”

Since she started on this awareness journey, she has had students admit that her message has given them courage to seek help. She has prayed with at least 15 students—many of whom were strangers—who came up to her suffering in the moment.

“They realized they weren’t crazy and weren’t alone, and they ended up seeking counseling,” she said. “I don't do this through me. I do this because of God, who stepped in and stopped my life from ending. He’s given me a

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second chance, and I'm not going to waste it.”

Emma is thankful that God made her passionate about helping other students find help.

“I don’t care about having a legacy, but if I do anything on this campus, I want to make somebody feel like they are loved and that they are valued because Christ says they are.”

It’s also taught her to strive to be more in tune with the Holy Spirit every day of her life.

“I try to listen and hear what He prompts me to do,” she said. “Because if Don hadn’t been listening to the Holy Spirit that day, I wouldn't be here.”

STUDENT COUNSELING SERVICES

Coming to college can be highly stressful for some students because they are experiencing so many “firsts.”

“It’s the first time they’ve been away from their parents for an extended time, the first time they’ve had a roommate, the first time they’ve fallen in and out of love, the first time they’ve failed a class,” said Vice President for Student Life Dr. Brandon Skaggs. He said counselors at the UMHB Student Counseling Center are available to walk beside students during challenging times.

“We feel it’s important for students to take advantage of their services,” he said. “This is a time of life that is very different, and it’s OK to come and seek help.”

With two licensed professional counselors and a host of clinical psychology interns, the center offers a free and confidential resource for students as they navigate the stressors of life.

“We see a ton of anxiety and depression,” said Licensed Professional Counselor Karen DuBroc. “When we start talking about some of the things that got them to that place, that’s where we begin to dive deeper into things like trauma. A lot of students don’t know to call it trauma. We don’t just unpack how they’re feeling right there in that moment, but how they got there.”

With the stress and strain of COVID-19, the counseling services office has seen a significant uptick in demand for services. In the Fall 2021 semester, the center saw 1,311 appointments; prior to the pandemic, in the Fall of 2019, there were 899 appointments.

“Some of these students didn’t get to have a graduation, a high school homecoming, or prom. There’s just a chunk of their lives where life shut down as they knew it. As they reenter, they are experiencing the real stresses of everyday life, and it’s a challenge,” DuBroc said. “It has created a lot more anxiety and uncertainty, and there’s a gravity to life that they didn’t know prior to COVID-19.”

Licensed Professional Counselor Karlie Butterworth said their goal has been to proactively reach out to students to make them aware of all the available resources before students are in crisis.

“There are so many free resources on campus that a lot of people don’t know about—career services, student organizations, fitness classes, etc. to get plugged into. A lot of what we help with is getting students connected to build a community with other students because a lot of students do feel lonely too, and that’s a normal thing.”

On the other hand, the counselors also encourage students to find balance with all their activities and help them with time management techniques.

“We teach them about not over-committing and that it’s OK to say ‘no,’” Butterworth said.

The counselors provide short-term counseling for up to six weeks; if long-term help is needed, the counselors get students connected to additional resources.

GIFT OF LIFE

Emma praises the counseling center, which she heartily recommends to students in need. Looking back over her life and the dark place depression had once taken her, she knows God led her to be the student body president for a purpose. She now sees every moment and opportunity as a gift.

“I know I’m here because this is exactly where God wants me to be. And it’s a gift. It’s incredibly humbling,” she said. “I just want to go back in time and hug 15-year-old me and say, ‘it’s going to be OK.’”

But Emma insists that her darkest time in life isn’t “her story.” It’s just “part of her story.”

“It’s a little part of what makes me, me” she said. “I think the most important thing for me to remember is that I am more than my mental illness and that I am more than my triumph over suicide. I am Emma Wayt, daughter of Christ.”