Danger of alcohol not always on the road

By Matt Reinig

Published Oct. 2, 2007

The Wellness Resource Center is inviting Ross Szabo to MU for the start of Alcohol Responsibility Month. Wellness Resource Center Director Kim Dude said Szabo is unlike others the center has invited to MU.

Normally, speakers have some drunk-driving related tragedy they are talking about, Dude said.

"But in Ross' case, he is really talking from a broader perspective," Dude said.

Szabo, director of youth outreach for the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign, will talk about alcohol as it relates to mental health issues in college.

"He speaks about his own experience in college dealing with mental health issues, suicide attempts and thoughts of suicide during college," the center's Senior Coordinator Joan Masters said. "He talks about how his problems coping with the stress of college and his mental health issues often led him to misuse and abuse alcohol."

Ross also co-wrote the book "Behind Happy Faces: What Young Adults Need to Know About Mental Health." The book will be available at Szabo's presentation.

Masters said Ross is not anti-drinking. Rather, Ross discusses the dangers of dealing with mental or emotional issues by self-medicating with alcohol, she said.

In November, students and staff from the Wellness Resource Center, peer educators from Peers Advocating Wellness Solutions, peer educators from the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team and representatives from Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol traveled to Anaheim, Calif., to preview speakers for this year's Alcohol Responsibility Month, said Leigh Neier, a graduate assistant at the center.

"Ross's presentation will focus both on mental health and alcohol and how alcohol plays a role in mental health, especially in terms of the college student population," Neier said.

Szabo has appeared in magazines such as Parade and Seventeen and on the CBS, MTV and CNN television networks. The presentation he will give at MU has been turned into a television program for Public Broadcasting Service, according to the NMHAC's Web site.

The program is sponsored by the Wellness Resource Center, PAWS, ADAPT, GAMMA and the Delta Upsilon fraternity.