Raising awareness for mental health advocacy is the mission of UNCW’s Project Please Stay, a club started in response to growing suicide rates in Chapel Hill. UNCW’s chapter was formed last year when now President Alyssa Thomas was inspired by the movement across North Carolina. Thomas says, “Our mission is to promote mental awareness amongst teens and college students. We encourage them to reach out for support and please stay another day.” Susannah Swindell founded Project Please Stay in 2021 after hearing about college suicide rates from her brother, “In fall of 2021, my brother was a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill.  When I found out from him that several students (including one who lived in my brother’s hall) passed away due to suicide, I wanted to do something to help prevent others from making that difficult decision,” she said.

Swindell says that the goal of this movement is to help young adults become educated, and to help them educate others. “We want to spread positivity, hope and fun in these stressful times when teens are going through so many internal battles.” Project Please Stay currently has 11 chapters, most of which are at high schools in North Carolina.

Last summer, Thomas saw an Instagram post about Project Please Stay at another school. “I was moved by the mission and felt compelled to bring it to UNCW,” Thomas said. As president, Thomas wants to ensure that the club is a place where people are able to learn, grow and be themselves. “Our club hosts educational and information sessions on topics such as different mental illnesses, and suicidal ideation and we focus on creating a warm environment on campus,” she said, “Our meetings are dedicated to creating a warm space on campus.” This fall, the club will host meetings such as a beach sunset, mental health jeopardy and a Friendsgiving.

Project Please Stay was founded on four values, that are maintained throughout the chapters:

Positive impact,

Don’t be a bystander,

Privacy is key

and suicide will always be a sensitive subject.

These four values are in place to remind members to be kind and help guide. The second value psoes a reminder to not to break the trust of someone who has opened up to you. Additionally, the fourth value serves as a reminder that the club’s goal is “to reduce the stigma around mental health.” The club often delves into sensitive topics and aims to remind members that suicide should be regarded “with care, empathy and respect.”

Thomas hopes that the club will be able to offer Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training for their executive board and members in the future. QPR training is a suicide prevention training that stands for “question persuade, refer.” The training that allows someone to be able to recognize a person at risk. The UNCW Counseling Center offers QPR training, and Thomas hopes that the members of Project Please Stay could indulge in that program.

According to the QPR Institute, a person who is “in a position to recognize a crisis and the warning signs that someone may be contemplating suicide,” is called a Gatekeeper. QPR Institute recommends that there be one Gatekeeper per family. QPR is often compared to the “CPR of mental health.”

On Sept. 15 the club hosted their biweekly meeting to write letters to their future selves. Thomas collected the letters, or allowed members to hold onto theirs themselves, with the intention of revisiting the letters at the end of the semester.

Thomas is always encouraging new students to join the club, “We are always accepting new members; you can come at the very last meeting and still be a member.” Thomas prioritizes not taking attendance as to not pressure anyone to attend meetings weekly to be a member. “Everyone is welcome whether you want to learn more or find a community,” she says. “We are all very welcoming.”

Thomas is a senior this year, but she hopes that the club will continue to grow without her. “In the next few years, hopefully this club is still going on because a majority of the exec board is graduating,” she said. “My hope is that it gets even bigger with even more people, to do more events on campus but off campus as well.” Thomas’ vision for the club is not just to foster a community on campus, but to expand their impact to the greater Wilmington community.

To join Project Please Stay at UNCW follow or contact their Instagram @uncw.pps or visit their WaveLink page.