It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop in the auditorium on May 27 as junior Ariana Cyr spoke to psychology students about her struggle to overcome depression.
Cyr was accompanied by Kelley Cunningham, head of the outreach and education program at Samaritans, and together they narrated Cyr’s story of a struggle against depression and self-harm, hoping to leave an impact and teach the audience.
“It was really relieving to be able to come clean about everything. I was kind of doing it for myself, but I was really doing it to hit home the idea that it’s okay [to feel depressed],” said Cyr.
Filled with excitement and passion, Cyr recounted the intimate details of her personal story to the large audience.
“The hardest part is coming clean to people, both when telling the story and when it’s actually happening because I was afraid of what people were going to think of me even though no one is going to judge you, they just want to help you,” Cyr said.
Cyr told the audience how she was gripped by depression after a back injury kept her from her passion of horseback riding. Slipping lower and lower, Cyr faded from her friends, began self-harming and was eventually hospitalized twice due to overdoses of Benadryl and Aspirin.
“When I was in the hospital, I really wanted to get better and it happened for a period of time, but then I went back to my old ways. Then at the end of January of last year I was like ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’ and it’s worked so far,” Cyr said.
After taking initiative to overcome her depression, Cyr felt it was her duty to educate and help fellow students to deal with depression.
“As cheesy as it sounds, it does get better. There’s hope for all of us. We all have a talent, we all have something that makes us unique. So, instead of taking your own life, why not take it and make it something awesome,” Cyr said.