 This week is National Suicide Prevention Week and a group of local college students is working to spread that message of hope at Central Lakes College. Our reporter Rachel Johnson has more. One in five adults will experience a mental illness in a given year in the U.S. according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. With National Suicide Prevention Week people are trying to end the stigma and spread awareness of the common disease. Mental illness is so common it's like any other illness that someone might have but for some reason their stigma attached to mental illness. A group of students at Central Lakes College came together this week to be a fixture of hope. A lot of people are going through their own things that they don't like to talk about. It's important to bring out make them feel safe that they can share their stories or give them the opportunity to feel that it's not like unhealthy for them to talk about things that they're going through. The students will be in the South Hall outside of the cafeteria every day this week from 10 to 2 handing out resources and information on suicide prevention. The students are volunteering their time to spread the message that there are resources out there for people who are struggling. It's really important for me because as a lot of people know there's been a couple of the suicides going on in Brainerd it's really important to me because it's part of my family it's close. I personally have dealt with depression and whatnot but this summer actually I had a friend commit suicide so that made me more passionate about suicide awareness. The college is putting a strong emphasis on mental illness throughout the year through the make it okay campaign which has the goal of reducing the stigma around mental illness. We want to just move away from this idea that you know you shouldn't talk about mental health that is a character flaw or something to be embarrassed about and to just let students know there are people who care there are resources. There's this myth that asking for help is a sign of weakness and it's actually a sign of strength and courage and that's the message we want to send. The biggest thing the students want people to know is they are not alone. There's help everywhere you can confide in just about anyone I mean we have professors that are more than willing to help we have peers that are more than willing to help they're not alone. Reporting from Brainerd, Rachel Johnson, Lakeland News. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness or having thoughts of suicide call the crisis line and referral service at the number you see on the screen. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.