The Interfraternity (IFC) Senate – behind IFC Executive Vice President Julian Naranjo – met this March to enacting a new bylaw with a focus on mental health assistance.
The new Mental Health First Aid bylaw will reward chapters who enroll members in Mental Health First Aid Training by decreasing the existing out-of-house programming completion percentage rate by two percent per member. A maximum of five members can attend the training and only two of the five may be first-year students.
“Mental health, particularly in our community, is something you have to pay attention to. Incentivizing chapters to actively take steps forward in treating and identifying mental health will have a positive long-term impact for men on our campus,” Naranjo said.
Naranjo’s term started spring semester of 2019, and he is the first IFC Vice President tasked with mental health assistance on top of diversity inclusion. But within just the first few month, Naranjo has already made tremendous headway in both departments setting aside sufficient funds toward multicultural events such as the Stroll Competition.
Mental Health First Aid is a national program teaching participants how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders.