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The fight against mental health stigma is one that must be fought by our communities through innovative efforts. The promotion of mental health advocacy is key to making important changes in the way we as a society treat individuals that struggle with their mental health. 

Led by the U-M Depression Center, the Naveed Arif Iqball Award for Mental Health Advocacy and Stigma Reduction supports such efforts through a $2,000 grant. This grant aims to support young adults (high school age to 26 years-old) in Washtenaw County that creatively decrease mental health stigma. 

Support for this award is provided for by the Naveed Arif Iqball Endowment, established by Mr. Arif Iqball AM, MBA ‘95 of Kyoto, Japan in loving memory of his son, Naveed. Mr. Iqball believes that the stigma surrounding depression discouraged Naveed from sharing his mental health struggles with those in his life and prevented him from feeling comfortable with seeking treatment. With this award, Mr. Iqball aims to support advocates taking creative steps to reduce stigma and increase awareness. 

Naveed was born on May 14, 1993, in Southfield, Michigan to Arif and Candida Iqball. As a high school student at Lakeview High School, he said, “To me, there is no greater feeling than knowing you helped someone, regardless of how it was done,” and truly lived by those words. After graduating from U-M with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology, he pursued tennis coaching full-time in order to connect to and inspire the children he worked with. His close friend, Jackie Slaby, describes Naveed as a joyful, gentle, and supportive person who made everyone around him feel heard. She says that “his friendship taught me the invaluable lesson of how the smallest acts of kindness can make the biggest impact in one’s life.”

2020 grant recipients: 

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washtenaw County, one of the recipients of the grant, aims to enhance the emotional intelligence of the youth they work with. As executive director Jennifer Spitler puts it, they are working toward “Building a Community of Trusted Mentors.” Bigs, or positive adult role models, are trained in early mental health warning signs and matched with Littles, or youth. Bigs work to care for Littles, challenge them to grow, support them, respect them, and connect them with opportunities.

Naomi Alvarado, a psychology major at University of Michigan Dearborn and former Peer-to-Peer member, hopes to advocate for mental health through her project Unseen United. As a community art project for students, Unseen United, will give Washtenaw county students a chance to express and share their diverse experiences with mental health. 

Participating students will create art projects of a variety of mediums and meet for virtual discussion of their mental health and creative process. Unseen United, which will take on the form of a video collection of the students’ projects, will be made available for viewing in May 2021. She plans to virtually share it widely with Washtenaw County community organization. 

Applications for the next round of awards will be open in July 2021.