Supported by a suicide prevention grant, six teams played games of dodgeball, moving up and down a tourney bracket, all the while raising awareness of the kind of mental health issues a student can face.

"We did a lot of research and discovered that suicide is the second leading cause of death on college campuses nationwide," said Jackie Blyleven, health educator of the Student Health and Counseling Center (SHCC). "So we really wanted to be creative in our marketing and our programming, because we realize that it is a really sensitive topic."

The mental health issues highlighted weren’t just limited to suicide, but ranged from stress from classes to emotional instability from family issues. Depression and inconsistent sleeping patterns were among the many issues brought to light, and students were urged to seek help from the SHCC.

"We decided to go ahead and create the ‘Dodge Stigma’ event and we want to dodge the stigma of seeking help for mental health," Blyleven said.

The participation for the event has gone up since the dodgeball tournament first kicked off. Its first year had five teams and doubled that number with 10 on its second. This year’s tournament was supposed to have eight teams, but two dropped out on the morning the tournaments commenced. However, Blyleven does not measure success purely by numbers.

"We try to measure it by just the awareness we’re creating," Blyleven said.

Despite the drop-off in participants, health educators and counselors of SHCC have noticed an incline in students coming to seek aid.

"In the five years that I’ve been here, each year we have seen more students in CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) and more appointments in CAPS," said Dr. Gail Pakalns-Naruo, director of CAPS. "I think it’s because more people know we exist and hopefully we’re gradually reducing the sense of stigma of gradually talking about these things and coming to ask for help."

Pakalns-Naruo also added that all counseling sessions are completely confidential. They do not show up on academic or health records. Only the most severe emergencies, which she said were quite rare, would some elements of that confidentiality be open.

With one of the main goals of the tournament being encouraging students to seek counseling and aid when needed, it has at least convinced Heidi Prince to feel less embarrassed if she ever needs help.

"For me as a student, it kind of brings to front the seriousness of mental health," said Prince. "It makes me more confident when I know I need it."

The tournament lasted through noon, with shaved ice being sold for teams to cool down. Health officials were also on board in case of physical injury, with ice packs on the ready. There are already plans to go ahead with a fifth tournament next spring.