OU.r Voice

OU.r Voice is a student group that advocates for mental health awareness and stigma reduction for OU and the Norman community.  ETEAM’s Clifford Sipes is the OU staff facilitator/advisor.  OU.r Voice is getting attention from students and staff because of its mission and activities.  A few other mental health student groups are on campus, but they are either inactive or support groups.  OU.r Voice focuses on student advisory and education around mental health and harm reduction topics.  They also wish to host and put on two small mental health events/fairs throughout each semester and a more significant event before finals in May.

Speaking of Clifford

Clifford Sipes, E-TEAM Trainer/Technical Assistance Coordinator, came to us from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, where he facilitated youth and young adult groups and provided training and learning opportunities for them and staff providers. Clifford partners with the National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, a collaboration between the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the University of Oklahoma Outreach/College of Continuing Education, Southwest Prevention Center, to provide training on youth and young adult mental health, suicide prevention, and harm reduction, juvenile justice, crisis intervention, and homelessness.  Clifford is a CLEET-certified Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) trainer. He is also an indigenous person with family ties in both Oklahoma and Montana.