As a student at NYU Shanghai, I’m proud to be part of a community that is built on bridging gaps and supporting one another. And this is something that we do very, very well. Think of the way successfully broken down the sharp divides along national lines that existed in August. In addition to breaking cultural barriers, we have the Queer and Ally Society hosting Ally Week in a few weeks, because we are proud that this school is a safe space for LGBTQ students, and because we, as a community, strive to demonstrate our unequivocal support for those marginalized simply due to their identity—because it is the right thing to do, and because they are our family. Breaking Barriers Initiative hosts activities and events that provide a safe environment for people, put food on the table, and allow all of us participating to breathe as one unit.

However, there is one issue that is too often shunted aside, underplayed, or outright ignored. It is an issue that I am sure affects some of you personally, or your peers, or someone you love. That issue is mental health.

My brother began struggling with mental health when he entered his teenage years (About half of all lifetime mental illness begins to manifest at the age of fourteen, and almost all by the age of twenty-one). When we were younger, my brother and I were inseparable. As clichéd as it may be: he is older and, although I would never admit this to him, he was my idol. There was constantly some new joke to be had or invented boyhood game to play. We liked to dress the same way. People said we had identical smiles. As we are only a mere year and half apart, we grew up together, our childhoods completely intertwined. We complement each other in every way, good and bad, or at least used to.

And then, his door slowly began to lock. At first it was easy to excuse as simply a byproduct of him growing into an ornery teenager—after all, I thought, didn’t all teenage boys get tired of hanging out with their twerp little brother, at least for a few years? As time went on it became clear that something far more serious was happening, but my family and I were able to ignore it for a time. We pretended it wasn’t happening, because to have admitted it, so we thought, would have been far too painful. Too difficult. And as we did so, my brother slipped further and further away, turning to drugs and falling into a crowd of pretty unsavory people. It was only at the point that we almost lost him that we realized he needed our love the most.

With the correct treatment and the unfailing support of my family, I think he’s slowly inching back to us. I hope that he is. Recovery is a process, and it’s one that is never really over. Mental illness is something that my brother will struggle with for his entire life—but I glean comfort from knowing that at the very least, he has the support of people who love and care about him to make the long and difficult journey through life that much easier.

Difficult journeys come around more often than not, and we’re in one right now. College can be one of them; it is a period of transition. For many of us students here, living in Shanghai is our first time away from home or out of the country, and on top of the stress caused by that dramatic change, we have to contend with piles of schoolwork and creating an entirely new social circle. Amidst all of this, it can be easy to dismiss feelings of depression or anxiety as minimal, normal, or “no big deal”. It can be easier still, so far from our families and the people we have known our entire lives, to feel that we have no one to talk to, even when we do recognize that our suffering is serious.

One similarity between Chinese and American culture (I am confident this is the case in most of the places we come from, but I can only speak from the two cultures I am closest to) that I have noticed is the by-your-bootstraps mentality; because both countries emphasize hard work, the culture tends to stigmatize mental illnesses that erode one’s motivation and energy, or otherwise impair one’s ability to work. This judgment is something that can be reduced, and in a community as tight-knit as our own, can be reduced quite easily. The same way that we bridged the gap between students of different nationalities and showed our support for the LGBTQ community during Ally Week, I want to loudly demonstrate our support for students struggling with mental illness, depression, or simply just feeling lost—every single day of the year. We do not want any one of us to slip away and then be caught at the precipice. We must be at each other’s sides as we march firmly past it.

We already have resources at NYU Shanghai, and every student should feel comfortable enough to head up to the sixth floor and take a breather or a nap at Health and Wellness when he or she is not feeling emotionally ready to take on the day alone. However, this is an issue that cannot be solved by one trip to the sixth floor. It is something that takes time to resolve. The first step, and possibly the most difficult step, is acknowledging that there may be something to address. The college transition is something that extends far past the orientation period, and no one should be hesitant to look out for a helping hand. Some would be shocked at how understanding each classmate and faculty member can be, but this is simply because we are all here, all experiencing this together. All it takes is to reach out a hand. Somebody will always be there to catch it.

作为一个上海纽约大学的学生，我非常自豪成为这个以打破文化障碍为己任，致力于为支持彼此的群体的一员。

这的的确确是我们做的非常好的事情。请各位回想一下刚开学的时候，国籍的界限曾经那么明显的存在于我们之中，而如今我们已经成功了打破了这些阻碍。如此小的群体却有能力做到这一点，这无疑是令人惊叹的。再过几周我们还会有 Queer and Ally Society 举办的 Ally Week 活动，因为我们足够自信：这个学校对LGBTQ学生们而言是一个安全的空间。我们所有人，作为一个集体，力争为那些仅仅因为不一样的个性和身份而遭到边缘化的人提供毫不犹豫的支持。这不单是因为这是他们正当的权利，更因为他们是我们的家人。BBI举办了许多活动，在这些活动中，我们享受着安全的环境和桌上的食物。，让所有人融为一体。

然而，在这些之外，我们仍然推卸，不重视，乃至完全忽视了一个问题。我确信这个问题已经在你们某些人的私人生活中影响了你们，或是你们的同学，抑或是你爱的某个人。这个问题，就是心理健康。

我哥哥自他青春期以后就饱受精神问题的困扰。半数终身性的精神疾病14岁以前便会有所症状，几乎所有的患者都会在21岁之前表现出症状。当我们还是孩子的时候，我总是和哥哥形影不离。他比我年长，尽管我从来不会承认这一点，但他确实我的偶像。虽然这句话看起来像陈词滥调，但这的的确确便是当时的我们。我们总有开不完的新玩笑，乐此不疲地发明新游戏来玩；我们也总喜欢穿着一样的衣服。大家都说我们有着标志性的微笑。我们的年纪相差不过一年半，因此我们一起长大：我们的童年是如此的紧密相连。我们在每个方面都是那样完美的契合，或好或坏。至少，曾经。

但我们之间的那扇门渐渐的关上了。一开始我并不以为然：我以为这只是他成为一个坏脾气青春期少年的副产品——毕竟，我觉得，每个青春期的男孩都会对和他的跟屁虫弟弟一起玩耍这件事感到厌烦，至少会有几年吧？然而，随着时间的推移，我们发现哥哥的情况远比我想象的复杂，严重得多。但我和我的家人仍然在很长一段时间内忽视了这件事。或许我们其实并非没有注意到，而是我们假装我们并不知道在我哥哥身上发生了什么。我们不想接受这些糟糕事情的发生，因为接受便意味着承担巨大的痛苦。这太难，太难做到了。

可惜我们的不忍终究酿成大错。哥哥在泥潭中越陷越深。他和一些不三不四的人混在一起，乃至吸毒。直到这一刻，直到我们几乎要失去他的这一刻，我们方才意识到，此时此刻他最需要的，唯有我们的关爱。

在正确的治疗和我们家人不懈的支持下，我想他正在一点点一点回到我们身边，回到那个原来的地方。我真希望他已经完全回来了。恢复是一个漫长的过程，而我哥哥所面对的恢复，更是一条永无止境的漫漫长路。哥哥将会在他未来的人生中，每一分每一秒，都不停的与精神疾病做斗争。但令我欣慰的是，至少在最后他得到了来自那些爱他的，在乎他的人的支持。在这条漫长的康复之路上，我们家人陪伴他一起走过，让这条艰难之路走得更稳，更轻松一些。

艰辛之路。对于这里的很多学生而言，居住在上海是他们第一次离开他们家或是祖国。这也是他们第一次处在压力的最前线，因为他们面对的是如此戏剧性的生活巨变。我们必须同时应对成堆的作业和全新的社交圈子。在这过程中，我们可以轻易的不把它们看的那么重要，以此宣泄掉我们的压力和焦虑。但在我们如此远离家人和过去的朋友时，我们却更有可能感到无助。我们感觉自己没有人可以交流，一丝一毫的痛苦都那么严重。

有一点中国文化和美国文化很相似——我很自信这一点在大多数文化中都是相似的——但我只讨论我最熟悉的两种文化，那就是自力更生的精神。这两种文化都强调努力，但精神疾病会削弱人的能量和动机，乃至于工作能力，因此在这两种文化中，精神疾病无疑被视作一种羞耻。但这种羞耻是可以减轻的，尤其是在我们这样一个互相联系紧密的集体中。正如我们打破不同国别间的隔阂以及我们在Ally Week活动中展现出对LGBTQ的支持一样，我想大声宣布我们对挣扎于心理疾病，或是失落情绪，抑或只是单纯一种迷失感中的同学的支持，在365天的每一天，24小时的每一小时，3600秒的每一秒。我们不希望我们中的任何一个人走上悬崖，直到坠落深渊前的一刹那才从危险边缘被拉回来。我们便是彼此最坚实的依靠。

我们已经拥有了上海纽约大学的资源，因此每个学生都可以在需要时在六楼的Health and Wellness透透气或是打个盹。然而，这并不是一个去一次六楼就能解决的问题，而需要慢慢地解决，慢慢地改变。第一步，有人说是最困难的一步，是让自身发觉问题所在。大学适应期远不止Orientation那么长，每个人都可以在任何时候毫不犹豫向他人寻求帮助。可能有些人会发现，原来我们的同学与老师是如此感同身受，但这便是因为我们就在这里，我们生活在一起，我们是这个集体中的一部分。而要做到这一点，只需要伸出我们求助的手，在这个集体中，便会有人牵住它。

This article was written by Wesley Livingstone. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Flicker