Once a month, Active Minds recognizes a chapter that has demonstrated exemplary work and a strong commitment to mental health advocacy. American Canyon High School has earned the title of Chapter of the Month through its commitment to decreasing mental health stigma through community engagement. This chapter consistently supports their student body, whether they are hosting interactive activities or simply providing a safe space for anyone at school who needs it. Learn more about Active Minds at American Canyon High School through the Q&A below!
Why is mental health important to your chapter and school?
The large amount of diversity at our school is what makes mental health extremely important to our chapter, school, and community as a whole. Specifically, American Canyon is a small town at the border of Napa. As a part of the Napa Valley Unified School District, many of the other high schools don’t have the same amount of cultural diversity as American Canyon does. The varying experiences of all of our students in their personal and educational lives are what make mental health awareness and education essential to our chapter. Having many different cultures means more variation in experiences with mental health. This can feel isolating for students. Through education about varying mental health topics, we are able to provide our diverse student body with a large toolkit of resources.
Do you have a favorite chapter memory?
A memorable experience from the ACHS Active Minds chapter would be our past ‘Cookies and Cram’ event, a collaboration between our school’s Leadership team and Active Minds. This event provided a place where students are encouraged to study for their upcoming finals while enjoying cookies and hot cocoa. Cookies and Cram fostered a sense of community and support from surrounding peers, creating an environment where students are able to focus on their academic goals while also prioritizing their mental well-being. It offered a valuable opportunity to ease stress, encourage self-care, and remind students that they have a supportive community during the challenges of finals week.
Are there any goals your chapter is working towards?
Our chapter’s goals are to give hope to students struggling with mental health issues. We strive to be the impact for someone struggling to continue living. We also hope to create a peer-to-peer support system at our school so students can reach out to others who understand, and overall decrease the fear of asking for help.
Another important goal of ours is to fund our school’s Wellness Center, a place where students can meet with social workers, counselors, people from [community] organizations, and more. Here, students can talk to someone whenever they need to even when they are in crisis. However, our Wellness Center is severely understaffed and underfunded, which can create long waitlists for students to get the support they need. We hope to help our Wellness Center get more funding by reaching out to our district, and this would help students have more resources and improve their mental health.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about joining or starting a chapter?
A piece of advice our chapter would give to someone considering joining or starting a chapter is to do it! Joining an Active Minds chapter will provide you with a safe and loving community and will help you foster your knowledge about mental health. An Active Minds chapter can provide you with a support system and endless knowledge. We highly recommend considering starting an Active Minds chapter; by starting a new chapter, you may be able to provide your community with resources and a safe space that wasn’t previously there. By starting a chapter you can create a much larger impact. Doing either of these things is extremely impactful and our chapter pushes you to consider them both!
