Wake Forest mental wellness fair returns Sept. 26 at Renaissance Centre

A personal crisis that nearly ended Nick Sliwinski’s life has become the reason Wake Forest’s mental wellness fair carries more urgency than a typical community event. The town commissioner has said his advocacy grew out of his own mental health journey, including a 2004 suicide crisis at Ithaca College that was interrupted when his friend Casey Brown knocked on his door and sat with him by a volleyball court.

That experience now sits at the center of Wake Forest’s Fourth Annual Mental Wellness Fair, which will run Saturday, Sept. 26, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, 405 S. Brooks St. The town says the event is designed to raise awareness about mental wellness and connect residents with programs, services and resources for people living with untreated or undertreated mental illness.

For Wake Forest families, the fair is meant to be practical, not abstract. Town officials say it will include activities for children and teens, information for families, seniors and veterans, interactive workshops, wellness screenings, youth activities, creative expression zones, resources from therapists and nonprofits, food vendors, music, community art, volunteer opportunities and bilingual support. Wake Forest opened vendor applications through Friday, May 15.

The fair is part of the town’s years-long Focus on Mental Wellness initiative, which Wake Forest says grew out of community feedback. Sliwinski later founded an Active Minds chapter at Ithaca College, and he has also spoken publicly about having his first panic attack in 2022, a reminder that mental health challenges do not stay confined to one age group or one stage of life.

Wake Forest is not starting from zero. Last year’s fair drew about 300 attendees and more than 30 vendor advocates, with free haircuts, a mobile market, mindfulness breakout sessions, live music, refreshments, a presentation on social media safety and a panel moderated by Symone Lyles of UNC’s Mental Health and Performance Psychology Department. That panel also included Karen Pustulka of WakeMed, former NFL quarterback and Evara Health executive BJ Daniels Jr., and Eric and Terry Murray, the parents of PGA golfer Grayson Murray.

The need behind those efforts reaches well beyond Wake Forest. Wake County Public Libraries highlighted Mental Health Awareness Month in April with new learning kits and special programs, and Wake County tells residents in crisis to call 911 in life-threatening situations, 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or 855-PEERS-NC for the NC Peer Warmline. North Carolina health officials say suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10 to 18 and the third leading cause for people ages 19 to 34, which helps explain why a town fair can feel like more than a fair in a place where prevention still depends on making help visible.