How a Wake Forest commissioner’s story inspired the town’s Mental Wellness Fair
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Nick Sliwinski said a college friend's 2004 visit likely prevented his suicide.
- Sliwinski was a main catalyst for Wake Forest's first Mental Wellness Fair in 2023.
- Close to 300 people attended the 2025 Mental Wellness Fair.
Content warning: This story includes mentions of suicide.
Someone was knocking at Nick Sliwinski’s door. It was a good friend: Casey Brown.
Brown told Sliwinski he wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he should come down and see how Sliwinski was doing. So the two went outside.
It was the fall of 2004, Sliwinski’s sophomore year at Ithaca College in central New York. He and Brown lay in the grass by the volleyball court and talked about life.
Over six months later, Sliwinski told Brown that right before that door knock, he had been prepared to end his life.
“If it weren’t for that man, who is still a friend today,” he said, “I don’t know if I’d be here.”
Almost two decades later, in 2023, Sliwinski took the stage at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre as part of the town’s inaugural Mental Wellness Fair, an event for which he was a main catalyst. Sliwinski, now a Wake Forest town commissioner, told the crowd of dozens about his mental health journey. It was the first time his dad heard his story, he said.
‘Men don’t talk about that’
Growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s, if mental health was ever discussed, it was in a negative way, Sliwinski said.
The closest his high school health classes got to teaching about depression was when he learned about the five stages of grief.
Sliwinski also grew up in Reynoldsville, Pa., a town with roughly 2,500 people, a handful of stop lights, a couple of gas stations, a post office and not much more than that.
“Coming from small rural Pennsylvania, it’s a lot of ‘men don’t talk about that,’” Sliwinski said. “And we still have that problem today, which I’m still baffled by.”
After a rough first year in college, Sliwinski knew something was wrong. Over the summer, he had a heart-to-heart conversation with his mom and was first diagnosed with depression. He got a therapist and felt he was back on track enough to return to school for his sophomore year.
But he still struggled. For the first time, he had thoughts of suicide. After the conversation with his friend, Brown, he took a semester off to work on himself.
Early on, Sliwinski said, he learned there was no cure for his depression. But he could learn to cope with it and thrive. In his junior year, he founded a chapter of Active Minds — a national mental health advocacy organization — at Ithaca College.
Now, almost 20 years after he graduated, Sliwinski is still on a “journey.” He had his first panic attack in 2022. Over the years, he has lost friends who were either confused or thought he was seeking attention when he spoke about his challenges. He’s still working on opening up to others.
“Some days it’s a struggle,” he said. “Some days it’s fantastic. But having the conversations, making sure that you got a support system and that you’re open and honest with them and yourself is kind of how I’ve gotten through it.”
Sliwinski didn’t take office as town commissioner in 2021 thinking he’d help create mental wellness initiatives for the town.
He said he came across a flyer on Facebook for a mental wellness event in Raleigh. He sent it to Town Manager Kip Padgett, asking if Wake Forest had a similar event — and if not, why not.
From there, the Mental Wellness Fair was born.
How the fair works
A four-person steering committee including Sliwinski and Wake Forest Community Outreach Manager Andrew Brown Jr. organized the first fair in 2023.
The fair tries to keep its partners local, Brown said, inviting mental health providers, faith-based groups, community organizations like the Northeast Community Coalition and veterans’ organizations, among others.
For this year’s Mental Wellness Fair, to be held Sept. 26, he said at least 35 vendors have applied.
To make sure fair attendees feel no pressure, vendors cannot solicit services, Brown said. Attendees can connect with vendors outside of the fair setting.
Brown said the fair keeps the environment light by hiring a DJ and providing live music. WakeMed’s mobile clinic pulls up to give blood pressure screenings. Volunteer therapists and quiet rooms are on hand in case anyone is upset by anything they hear at the fair.
The fair also hosts a keynote panel each year. Last year, Brown centered the panel on student athletes’ mental health, featuring former NFL quarterback B.J. Daniels, who described being robbed at gunpoint the night he and the South Florida Bulls beat Florida State and dealing with his sister’s illness.
The parents of Raleigh native and PGA golfer Grayson Murray, who died by suicide in 2024, also spoke. Focusing on student athletes was important to Brown, the father of two college athletes who tell him about their teammates trying to take care of their families with name, image and likeness (NIL) money.
This year’s panel is called “Plugged In: Conversations about Kids, Technologies and Mental Health,” Brown said.
The impact of the fair
Close to 300 people attended the 2025 fair, Brown said, up from under 100 in 2023.
Through the post-fair survey, parents said they were able to find therapists for their children, Brown said. In particular, veterans and seniors often find services at the fair they previously didn’t know about. Even a vendor told Sliwinski in 2025 that she learned new ways to talk about mental health with her sister.
“If we can help one person, it’s all worth it, right?” Sliwinski said. “I will say we have always [helped] many more than one.”
In Brown, Sliwinski found a strong ally. He echoed Sliwinski’s observation of a “man up” mentality toward mental health.
As a young Black man growing up in Washington, D.C., Brown said men “weren’t allowed to have any weaknesses.” But much of what Brown has seen has shown him the importance of his work.
Hearing Sliwinski’s story. Having family members who died by suicide. In particular, seeing top athletes like Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles step away from competition to take care of their mental health.
“That’s when I said, OK, we’re doing something right,” Brown said. “We’re doing something that’s helping folks.”
Much of what Brown has learned about mental health – through workshops, classes and other Wake County fairs – was brand new to him, he said. But through his work, Brown has learned to take more time for himself now that his two kids are in college.
“There was one time — this was when my son had just went away to school, and my other son was maybe at a camp, and I was home alone,” Brown said. “And I just sat in the room in complete silence for probably an hour. And I just – it just felt so good.”
Sliwinski goes public with his story
Sliwinski said he got good at putting a mask on in his younger days. It was easier to pretend he was happy than explain to people why he was sad.
Even with parents and friends who never judge him, Sliwinski said he still falls into the old trap of keeping his struggles to himself.
So speaking at the inaugural fair in 2023 “scared the crap out of me,” he said.
He said he barely remembers the fair itself. Only that once he started talking, he couldn’t stop. He also remembers how it ended: going backstage to hug his wife and town Organizational Performance Director Lisa Hayes. Now, he tells his story at the fair every year. It still makes him nervous.
“I guess it was almost my responsibility opening up that first fair to almost set a tone of being open and honest,” Sliwinski said.
The tone he set spread beyond the fair. In the past couple of years, Wake Forest has hosted partners who held Mental Health First Aid training for 40 residents — which is also part of the town leadership program – mobile markets with free food and workshops for breathing exercises.
But Sliwinski admits he’s “very bad” at taking credit. As he praised what the town has done to promote conversations about mental health, Brown pointed to him and finished his friend’s sentence.
“Because of your leadership,” Brown said.
Sliwinski looked down and took a short breath, then looked back up at Brown.
“Our leadership,” he said.
This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 8:00 AM with the headline "How a Wake Forest commissioner’s story inspired the town’s Mental Wellness Fair."
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