On March 9, 2022, Bradley University’s Active Minds group hosted guest speaker David Romano. Romano is an advocate for men’s mental health and he shared his story of his struggles.
Romano started his presentation by stating that every person at this school and in the world has mental health and it’s an important thing to take care of.
Romano talked about his life with depression and all the struggles that he went through while growing up. He mainly touched on his mental health in high school and how he felt it was him against the world.
“I should have felt I was enough, but I didn’t,” Romano said.
Romano said that he was popular and was involved in multiple sports and activities at school, but they didn’t truly make him happy.
One day after school Romano talked to his mom about how he was feeling and they went to the doctor. That doctor diagnosed him with depression.
“I thought that depression was a weakness,” Romano said. He also told his parents that no one needed to know what he had been diagnosed with.
Romano said that he was embarrassed by his depression and he felt like it was just something that he could get over, like a cold. He thought that being diagnosed made it so he wasn’t manly.
Romano continued to talk about his struggles and how, even at one point, stopped taking his medication and stopped going to therapy because he thought they weren’t helpful for him.
After saying this, he talked about how one day he was called to his counselor’s office and his father was there. His father and counselor were there to help him get the help he needs.
“Asking for help is one of the hardest things you can do,” Romano said.
After this encounter, Romano was pushed to get the help that he needed.
He then proceeded to share three simple things. Self-care is the most important you can do, normalize talking about mental health experiences and make sure to hold each other up.
“It’s not a weakness to ask for help,” is how Romano finished his presentation.
After the seminar, I asked a few students what they thought.
“I think that mental health is a great thing to get talking about. I’m glad that I was able to go to this seminar and hear David’s story,” Bradley sophomore Ben Hanley said.
“I’m grateful that I went to this talk because it shows me that I’m not alone,” Bradley junior Liam Janda said.