Utah News

Inspired by Mental Illness Awareness Week this month, a group of Utah Public Radio interns and reporters began sharing their personal experiences with mental illness. These were not stories about their observations of others who deal with mental illness; these were their stories.

During Part 2 of our series on Mental Illness Awareness series, we begin listening to a conversation between Storee Powell, Ryan Cunningham, and April Ashland as they work through some of the myths associated with mental illness.

In 1990, the U.S. Congress established the first full week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week to recognize the efforts of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)  to raise mental illness awareness. Since then, mental health advocates across the country have joined together during the first full week of October in sponsoring many kinds of activities.

In the first of a three-part series, UPR's Storee Powell discusses the continuing stigma of mental illness with NAMI Utah's executive director, Rebecca Glathar.

All this week at Utah State University, the religious studies program has invited two Buddhist monks to demonstrate the sacred art of sand mandalas.

Passersby may notice what looks a lot like a section of the student "Hub" roped off around two robed men. What those men will be envisioning is their own small piece of heaven—a suitable space to create a sand mandala. The sand mandala is an ancient Tibetan art form made by arranging colored sand in geometrical patterns. Dr. Hun Lye, professor of East Asian Religion at Davidson College, says the process is very symbolic. 

KPCW's Larry Warren moderates a debate between 1st District Republican Congressman Rob Bishop and his Democratic challenger Donna McAleer, who are both running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The debate originally aired during KPCW's Community Voices and UPR's Access Utah.