Mental health nonprofit Two Bridge is hosting its second Future Friends experience for students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, featuring a Mt. Joy headliner and a screening of a docuseries episode including Noah Kahan in this year’s lineup of wellness programming and social events.
Two Bridge partnered with UW Hillel and other student organizations to host the events, which also include a speech by mental health activist Kevin Hines, a yoga session, a line-dancing night and a financial literacy game show experience, according to co-founder Harris Schwartzberg.
All events are exclusive to UW-Madison students and free — with the exception of the Mt. Joy event, which costs $20 for entry. Last year’s event, featuring headliner Alex Warren, was free to students.
Esther Rosett, a psychology major and Two Bridge student ambassador, interned with the company over the summer and helped plan Future Friends activations.
Rosett told The Daily Cardinal she’s most excited for the docuseries screening with Kahan, describing it as “personal,” “up-close” and “real”.
“[Students] get to learn something through this documentary that they wouldn't normally through [how] he presents himself,” she said.
According to Rosett, Future Friends aims to make student connections as easy as possible at the activities, leaving notebooks for students to take numbers at the phone-free event and encouraging students to go on a walk with someone after the yoga.
Rosett said aside from Two Bridge, UW-Madison can help combat student loneliness by hosting more events and asking professors to connect students in lectures, referring to 600-person lectures where “I don’t connect with a single person.”
“You can be surrounded by thousands of people and still feel very lonely because there aren't that many opportunities, in my opinion, to get to know each other,” Rosett said. “There’s also a lot of pressure in college to look like you're constantly busy and having fun, which can make it a lot harder to admit what you're actually feeling.”
Two Bridge’s founder, Schwartzberg, said he ran a healthcare company with 16,000 employees before starting the nonprofit. With Two Bridge and Future Friends, he looked to connect mental health and music in honor of his brother, a musical theater fan who passed away 19 years ago following mental health struggles.
Schwartzberg told the Cardinal one of the biggest threats to student mental health is social media, as it can hinder human connection.
“People aren’t talking to each other,” he said. Instead of face-to-face conversation, people usually send a text or email. Future Friends promotes the idea of “[being] here,” “[being] present.”
“There's not a worse message you can give someone you're sitting with that they're less important than by looking at your phone,” Schwartzberg said.
The goal is to be less “clinical” with the Future Friends activities than other Two Bridge efforts like psychological first aid training for high school and college students, Schwartzberg said, adding students need programs that force them to be uncomfortable and talk with their peers.
This event gives students the opportunity to talk to each other spontaneously, and “[that] spontaneity… creates community and connection.”
“You all are so scheduled and serious,” Schwartzberg said. “While that's great because you're all achieving so much more, you're also so stressed out. Whether it's the political environment, whether it's grades at school, whether it's the job market, social media… at 18 to 22 years old, you should also be having a lot of fun.”
The familiarity of texting and social media has made conversation with students’ peers and mentors a challenge. When virtual means of communication are accessible and more comfortable, students often choose not to see each other face-to-face.
Schwartzberg said concerts bring joy to many students, and he hopes the activities can incentivize students to not only get off their phones but talk to those around them and build connections. They are all there under one common interest.
“We call them Future Friends because I would love people to come by themselves and meet new people,” Schwartzberg said. “That's part of what you're at college for.”
Sonia Bendre is the campus news editor for The Daily Cardinal. You can reach her at sonia.bendre@dailycardinal.com.
