Reach, Connect, Empower: Riverside City College Hosts First Southern Regional Student Leadership Conference

On March 29th, the nearly century old community college in Riverside will serve as the inaugural venue to the 2014 Southern Regional Student Leadership Conference and Mental Health Strategy Forum. Students and administrators from over sixty community colleges will meet to participate in leadership building activities and discuss strategies for combating mental health issues faced by college students. To launch the conference, the Associated Students of Riverside City College (ASRCC) partnered with the Mental Health Ambassadors (MHA) of Riverside City College program, the RCC Student Health and Psychological Services, and the newly formed Student Mental Health Advisory Council – a nonprofit dedicated to assisting institutions of higher education in providing access to mental health services for students. The conference, planned to be an annual event, comes out of a grant received by RCC through the California Mental Health Services Authority, and seeks to bring California's historic effort at tackling mental illness to community colleges in a big way. National Award-winning speaker Jon Vroman will deliver the keynote address, rounding off a day of workshops designed to hone the leadership skills of students, and give them the tools to effectively reach out to others. The conference will empower student leaders to face the challenges presented by mental illness – to themselves and to other students throughout the state – and connect colleges around Southern California in a web of support. For more information or to register as an attendee, email info@reachconnectempowerorg.