We are thrilled to introduce our May Chapter of the Month for the 2025-2026 school year, Franklin High School! This young chapter’s active commitment to mental health advocacy is clear in the growth of their members over the past 3 years of development with a robust, well-known presence in their school and town community.
Want to know more about this fantastic chapter? Read our Q&A with the Franklin High chapter to learn more about this dedicated chapter’s work.
Tell us about your school and chapter.
The Franklin High School community, especially with the help of Franklin High’s chapter of Active Minds, has become a place where students are taught to break the stigma surrounding mental health and pursue help when needed. The club is constantly reinforcing the message that it is okay to not be okay, and we pride ourselves on establishing a safe space within our community and among our members so that they never feel alone. While there is constantly more to be done in the name of mental health awareness, our chapter of Active Minds ensures that as many students in the Franklin High community as possible feel heard, seen, and valued.
Share something your chapter has done recently that you are proud of.
Our school has done so many incredible initiatives this year. We would say this is the most active our Active Minds chapter has been ever, and we are so beyond proud of our work.
To begin, we started off our school year by participating in the Yellow Tulip Project, and planting about 50 tulip bulbs in our school courtyard. In April, our Hope Garden bloomed! We celebrated our Hope Garden with a Hope Day + Ice Cream Social with our chapter in May.
Additionally, we have focused on partnering with other organizations and clubs that are also well-known to utilize cross-promotion and broaden the reach of our impact. For example, in November, we partnered with our Unified Sports program to host a charity Unified Basketball game, donating all funds to youth mental health nonprofit KyleCares. We raised over $1200! This game brought together other school clubs and community members to support the cause, but most importantly, we showed teamwork and unity through our Franklin HS staff, Franklin Police Department, and Franklin Fire Department playing alongside our Unified Basketball athletes.
Also, we hosted a mental health awareness week in May with various activities, and even brought in a guest speaker for a full school assembly. The guest speaker was Dr. Jonathan Jenkins — a sport psychologist for the Patriots and Red Sox — and he spoke for our entire school about how to manage stress in our daily lives. This was a major step for us because this was one of the first times our entire 1400-student school heard mental health discourse collectively in one room together. Incredible steps are being taken to destigmatize mental health at Franklin HS.
Why is mental health important to your chapter and school?
Mental health holds an important place in our school because ensuring the safety and comfort of students is a top priority. One of the most beneficial ways to do that is to work towards breaking the stigma around open mental health conversations, so that is what we work towards with our Active Minds chapter. Letting students know that mental health is valued at our school helps people feel more comfortable coming forward when they are struggling, which is important in fostering our ideal school environment.
How is your chapter making a difference on campus?
Our chapter is making a huge difference on campus because students are aware of Active Minds existing, and how it is a safe space to discuss mental health awareness and destigmatize the conversation that surrounds it. Our presence in the school community to us is not measured particularly by the number of students who are actively participating in every single activity, but overall, if people are aware of our mission, and more importantly, the one-on-one interactions we have with those who feel less isolated and more heard by our work. Every individual person who feels supported by our chapter and connected to the cause is a great success to us.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about joining or starting a chapter?
There are so many positive effects of having an Active Minds chapter within your school. For people looking to join, they should know that it may be hard to get people involved at first, but any visibility is good visibility. This year specifically, we realized the importance of partnering with known, well-established organizations to get cross-promotion to help us increase our awareness surrounding the mission, cause, and our chapter specifically.
Also, passionate and excited advisors are KEY to a successful chapter. Our advisors care so much about the cause and making an impact, and they are not passive in the students’ activities or planning. They are directly involved and help us get in doors that we would not be able to get into on our own.
What is a mental health mantra your chapter lives by?
Progress is not linear. All journeys are not linear. Community is key. You are not alone. It is okay to not be okay.
What do you wish more people knew about student mental health?
As a chapter we work incredibly hard to de-stigmatize mental health conversations and part of that is ensuring that people know not to feel ashamed about coming forward with their struggles. We wish that more people knew that safe spaces to get help do exist, and there does not need to be shame surrounding it. At school, this can look like counselors, trusted teachers and coaches, or clubs like Active Minds. Unfortunately, stigma is still alive in certain communities, including schools, but we wish that everyone knew how to reach out for help and support in a way that best supports their needs.
Does your chapter have any goals?
We certainly are so proud of how this club has grown in the past couple of years, but we definitely want to get more students involved in our mission and our events. We want to reach a more diverse community with men and athletes being represented specifically. Also, we believe that partnering with other chapters surrounding our town could be a huge help to the future of our chapter and its growth.
