General

May 13, 2022 — Content Warning: This piece contains mentions of suicide. As a high schooler, I convinced myself that starting college would be the fresh start I was looking for. I was certainly ready for one. So as I sat on the long drive to Eastern Michigan University (EMU) I looked through lists of student clubs, envisioning what […]

May 12, 2022 — Active Minds is headquartered in Washington D.C., and for many years, I was too. I went into the office each day on a consistent schedule, and from there, it felt easy to achieve a work/life balance. I gave my all to our team in the office and was able to focus on my loved ones […]

May 9, 2022 — It’s that time of year again. A time when college students across the country are camped out in libraries, surrounded by stacks of flashcards, empty coffee cups, and months worth of notes, otherwise known as finals season.  I’m right there too – over the next week or so, I have three finals, a four-thousand-word essay, […]

May 5, 2022 — Living in a small town in rural Massachusetts, I often joked that the only two things to do for fun were going to the local Target or finding a place to hike. Ironically, up until the pandemic, I never really enjoyed hiking (consequently, I spent a lot of time at Target). I was fortunate to […]

May 4, 2022 — I’m the son of two public school teachers. Because of this, I would like to think I have a unique perspective on just how much educators can change the lives of others (discounting that I was quite literally raised by educators). My parents have taught all sorts of students from a variety of backgrounds and […]

April 25, 2022 — When we go through trauma, it can be difficult to share our experience, either out of fear of how it will be received, a desire to not relive the incident, or even the worry of not being believed. Similarly, when we see someone we love go through something traumatic, it can be hard to know […]

April 19, 2022 — April is Stress Awareness Month, a time to take a step back and shed light on the causes and consequences of stress, one of the most common mental health topics confronting students. It’s the time of year when spring break feels like a distant memory and final exams loom right around the corner, leaving many […]

April 14, 2022 — “I was wrong,” is not something I ever expected to hear my therapist say. However, I had heard it more than once from different medical professionals over the years, all relating to one persistent question: “Do I have autism?” Throughout these various appointments and confessions, I remained without an answer. I went years without knowing, […]

April 8, 2022 — Content Warning: This piece contains mentions of suicide statistics. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, many were concerned about how it would impact youth mental health, especially high school students. The disruption of daily life, the pivot to distance learning, and the stress of the ever-changing mutations of the virus led to many young people experiencing […]

April 5, 2022 — Mental health research can be life-changing. It allows us to predict factors that can affect mental health outcomes, appropriately explain conditions and their complexities, and understand strategies to improve, treat, and manage those conditions.  Unfortunately, mental health research has not always been inclusive. Historically, most study participants were middle-aged white men. What impact does a […]