- University News Archive - 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock /news-archive/tag/emilia-rak/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Wed, 17 Apr 2019 19:36:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Rak promotes mental health, suicide prevention with inspirational mugs, website /news-archive/2019/04/17/emiliar-rak-change-your-day/ Wed, 17 Apr 2019 19:36:42 +0000 /news/?p=74062 ... Rak promotes mental health, suicide prevention with inspirational mugs, website]]> A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student is promoting mental health awareness with one inspirational smiley-faced mug at a time.聽 Emilia Rak, a junior social work major, knows what it鈥檚 like to live with mental health disorders and the challenges and stigma that can come from people who don鈥檛 understand. 鈥淚鈥檝e struggled with mental health issues for several years, and I would become severely depressed,鈥 Rak said. 鈥淚 had a very good friend, Renee. Her mother passed away a few years ago. She loved coffee, so at her funeral they had a coffee bar. Often, when I was feeling depressed, Renee told me that I had to have a coffee date with her mom in the morning. It was my promise not to harm myself until morning. For many years, my promise to my good friend was the only thing that kept me alive.鈥 Years later, when Rak鈥檚 friend continued to struggle with her mother鈥檚 death, she began making mugs for her friends who needed a boost to their spirits. The mugs, which she makes at The Painted Pig in Little Rock, are hand-painted with bright colors, smiley faces, and inspirational phrases. 鈥淚 just started making mugs and giving them to friends of mine who I thought were having a hard time. I love making presents for people,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hile I was doing this, I was engaged in my own art therapy. The mugs take between 2-6 hours a piece to paint. While I was making mugs, there was no room for dark thoughts or to question my own self-worth.鈥 When Rak received a Signature Experience Award from 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock last fall, she was grateful for the opportunity to take her project further. 鈥淧eople gave me feedback that my gift saved them from having a bad day or that this simple gift really had an impact in my life,鈥 she said. 鈥淭he opportunity came up to get the award, and I wanted to really make a difference with the award. I created the website () and started providing content for my website and social media.鈥 Rak was one of more than 100 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock students who received a $1,000 grant to conduct original research, creative works, and community service projects this semester as part of the Signature Experience Award program. Her faculty mentor is Dr. David Namir, professor of social work. She will present her research at the Research and Creativity in the Rock event on April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center. Along with her website, Rak began making more mugs with the goal of delivering them to places that promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention. She gave mugs to the Auxiliary to Arkansas State Hospital, Inc. to support their art therapy program, Creative Expressions, as well as the electroconvulsive therapy suite at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Psychiatric Research Institute. She also presented mugs to her classmates in her social work classes and asked them to please 鈥減ay it forward鈥 by either gifting the mug to someone who was struggling or to keep the gift and 鈥減ay it forward鈥 by having a positive, productive day that started with a smile.
Emilia Rak creates these inspirational mugs to raise mental health and for suicide prevention.

Emilia Rak creates these inspirational mugs to raise awareness for mental health issues and suicide prevention.

Rak feels the mugs will especially help people with depression and other mental health disorders as well as people who have suffered a major loss in life. 鈥淲hen you wake up, you feel like you have nothing to keep you motivated,鈥 she said. 鈥淎ll you have to do is look at this mug to make you feel better. People have told me that the mugs make them smile and laugh. It鈥檚 been proven that if you physically smile, you feel better. This is a simple way for me to address a serious health problem.鈥 Rak will continue to provide mugs and is accepting orders from anyone who would like a mug, but she would like to prioritize organizations that promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention. 鈥淚 truly enjoy making people happy,鈥 Rak said. 鈥淭his is something that is simple and effective. I鈥檝e opened a for anyone who would like to donate, and I鈥檇 like to keep doing this for as long as I can.鈥 Rak is on track to graduate in May 2020. She hopes to give back by working as a social worker and eventually an art therapist. 鈥淭his started out as art therapy, and this is why I am enthused about my future career because I know it works,鈥 Rak said. 鈥淚 want to make an impact in any way I can. Who knows? I might be painting mugs until I鈥檓 110 years old.鈥 In the upper right photo,聽Emilia Rak pets her service dog, Rooster The King of the Universe. Photo by Benjamin Krain.]]> 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock student to give TEDx talk on service animals /news-archive/2019/03/26/tedx-talk-service-animals/ Tue, 26 Mar 2019 19:31:41 +0000 /news/?p=73785 ... 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock student to give TEDx talk on service animals]]> A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student gave a TEDx talk at the University of Arkansas at Monticello on March 26 to share her story of how two service dogs have dramatically changed her life for the better. “Service dog handlers are already behind the 8 Ball because they have any number of disabilities with which they have to deal on a daily basis,” said Emilia Rak, a junior social work major at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. 鈥淥ur service dogs are not merely cuddly pets or cool accessories for aggregation. They are invaluable assets that help to mitigate aspects of our disabilities so that we can have an improved quality of life. We don鈥檛 want or need special treatment. We just want to be treated with kindness and respect, like everybody else.” Rak was one of the speakers selected for the 别惫别苍迟.听Four years ago, Rak, who said she has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because she was a victim of domestic violence, could not imagine how far she has come with the addition of a service dog in her life. 鈥淚 want people to understand how invaluable service dogs can be to their handlers for a wide variety of disabilities,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hey have service dogs for autism, diabetes, hearing loss, and now they are realizing how helpful service dogs can be for people who have PTSD from domestic violence. Without a service dog, I never would have been able to come back to school. My life would just be trips to the doctor鈥檚 office and back home.鈥 Rak’s service dog, Rooster the King of the Universe, helps her with anxiety, panic attacks, concentration, and nightmares. 鈥淲hen Rooster senses that I鈥檓 anxious, he鈥檒l step between me and other people. If I am having a panic attack, he will push up to me and lay on me and calm me down,鈥 she said. 鈥淲ithin a week of getting my first service dog, I reduced the amount of medication I was taking by half.鈥 Because of her service dog, Rak often faces uncomfortable situations. She has been denied service in restaurants and hotels, and some people believe that she is faking having a disability. 鈥淪ome people think I have a dog because I want attention,鈥 Rak said. 鈥淚 was physically assaulted eight months ago in a gym by a woman who thought I didn鈥檛 need a service animal because I wasn鈥檛 blind. One lady in Walmart prayed with me to restore my sight because she assumed I was blind. I didn鈥檛 have the heart to tell her the truth. People will thank me for my service because they automatically assume that I am a combat veteran as the public is becoming more aware of PTSD service dogs for veterans.鈥 The most common problem Rak encounters is that people want to pet her service dog. 鈥淭he reason you are not supposed to pet a service dog is because they are working. If the dog is distracted, then the handler鈥檚 well being could be compromised,鈥 Rak said. 鈥淎ll service dogs are not allowed to sniff. They can鈥檛 run around with kids. They don鈥檛 beg for food. They don鈥檛 chase squirrels. They don鈥檛 bark unless they are trained to alert someone about a problem. It can take as long as three years to train a service dog. People don鈥檛 realize how hard it is for these dogs. They are trained to be totally devoted to their handlers when they are working. 鈥淚 just want people to think. These are not show ponies. They are hard-working service dogs. For all the well-meaning dog lovers out there, you鈥檇 be surprised how many people, like doctors and politicians, don鈥檛 know that they aren鈥檛 supposed to pet a service dog. If I say no, it doesn鈥檛 mean I鈥檓 the Wicked Witch of the West. It just means no.鈥 Rak, who got married at age 21 when she lived in New Jersey, said she developed PTSD and bipolar disorder after losing custody of her four daughters to her ex-husband. 鈥淎ll those years ago, when my ex took my children from me, I felt that I was the lowest form of life,鈥 she said. 鈥淓motionally, I was devastated. That鈥檚 how I became disabled. After years and years and hundreds of thousands dollars wasted in court, the attorney finally told me, 鈥業 can鈥檛 take any more of your money. It鈥檚 best for you to go home and wait for your daughters to come to you once they turn 18.鈥 That is when I slid into another reality.鈥 Thirteen years ago, Rak married her second husband, Dale, and the couple moved to Texas and then Little Rock. After recovering from a suicide attempt four years ago, she decided to go back to school and was accepted into a 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock honors college program. That is also when she got her first service dog, Chester the WonderDog, a rescue from Rock City Rescue. 鈥淪o far I鈥檝e managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA, and it makes me feel very good, especially due to the disabilities that I now struggle with,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 51, and I realized there is more life behind me than there is ahead of me. I want to live the kind of life that my daughters will be proud of.鈥 Throughout her time at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, the Disability Resource Center has been of tremendous help to her. 鈥淭he Disability Resource Center has been very helpful in contacting my professors and communicating my accomodations, and there is a group for people with learning disabilities that I have attended,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat is another reason why I am so enthusiastically trying to lure people to 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. Between the professors, Disability Resource Center, and the Writing Center, everyone here is so willing to help you succeed.鈥 Rak encountered another misfortune last year when her first service dog, Chester, unexpectedly died, and she had to drop out of school for a semester while she trained Rooster. 鈥淭he grief of having him die so suddenly, but then to train another dog and maintain school was too much,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t takes a tremendous amount of energy to train a service dog. Without the trainer that Rock City Rescue provided, I never could鈥檝e done the job.鈥 Now back in school, Rak is on track to graduate in 2020 and is dedicated to spend the rest of her career paying forward the kindness she received when she needed help. 鈥淚 want to help people,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here were a lot of social workers who were kind and empathetic and helped me to get the services I needed when I needed them the most. I want to give back by paying it forward, and social work is my way of giving back. I want to be an art therapist eventually.鈥 Now that Rak is at a good place in her life, she is committed to giving back and spreading awareness about service animals, mental health awareness, and suicide prevention. She produced a video that is used on the School of Social Work鈥檚 website as a teaching tool about mental health stigma and has given a lecture on stress management at the Arkansas State Hospital Auxiliary. She also creates one-of-a-kind mugs that she delivers to people and organizations who are making a difference for people affected by mental health struggles. 鈥淭his project serves as my own art therapy. The mugs take two to six hours to make,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no room for negative noise to get in my mind when I am making art. The point of the mug is to have something that makes people smile, even if it鈥檚 just for a little while. Because, as my favorite quote says, 鈥榡ust one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.鈥欌 In the upper right photo,聽Emilia Rak pets her service dog, Rooster. Photo by Benjamin Krain.]]>