Every Monday night at 5:30 p.m., students huddle together in Hanson room 128 to write. But instead of completing assignments or editing papers, the members of Augustana’s National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) sit silently, scribbling down answers to journaling prompts in their leather-bound NAMI notebooks.

Before NAMI’s official 6 p.m. club meetings, the Augustana community is invited to take time from busy schedules as students and staff to reflect as a community in a process called grief writing, a program that first began Feb. 19. 

Following the death of First-Year student Casey Leichsenring, junior and NAMI Vice President Colleen Cranston said she felt it was important to offer students a place where their grief could be processed and supported in a time of need.

“We have seen various new faces, but I have also been hearing, still, that a lot of students don’t feel like they’re being supported after the events in January,” Cranston said. “That’s what I’m trying to do: grief writing is my first step.”

CORE career coach and First-Year advisor Claire Brakel Packer has her own experience with grief writing and has worked with Cranston to bring this option to the campus.

“Claire brings poems that you can cut up and make your own poem with,” Cranston said. “If you’re not used to expressing yourself through words, sometimes it’s helpful to have the words given to you so you can just piece them together.”

Together, Cranston and Brakel Packer have brainstormed different options for students to express their emotions in an accessible way, free from criticism or commentary. 

They offer attendees the opportunity to work through grief writing in a way that feels most productive to them, whether that be through journaling, collage, poetry or art, a sentiment that has been appreciated by NAMI members like First-Year Amiyah Woods.

“What I like the most is probably drawing. I also love how they have many different ways in which people can express themselves,” Woods said. “I just felt very relaxed and I felt like I was able to ease my stress.”

Although Augustana does offer free mental health resources through student counseling services, NAMI offers yet another space where students can support one another as a community and connect through mutual understandings and shared experiences.

First-Year Olivia Fleming said that NAMI has served as a space for her to reflect on her own emotions while spreading awareness on mental health.

“To me, NAMI is a place where I can go and just be in a very safe, warm environment that allows me to openly express my issues and connect with others as they also share their experiences,” Fleming said.

Despite NAMI’s grief writing origins, Cranston said that this time is meant to serve everyone, regardless of where their grief stems. 

“It’s just coming and understanding what you have lost and what you’re feeling,” Cranston said. “Grief writing is more than just about losing as a person, it’s about your journey afterwards.”