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July 9, 2024 — Summer is here, but mental health awareness is a year-round mission! At Active Minds, we’re proud of the impact our traveling exhibit, Send Silence Packing (SSP), has made this year. Sharing Stories, Sparking Hope SSP uses powerful storytelling to educate young adults about mental health. By showcasing backpacks representing lives lost to suicide, the exhibit […]

July 1, 2024 — Did you know June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, also known as Men’s Mental Health Month or Men’s Health Month? It dates back to 1994, evolving from a bill championed by Kansas Senator Bob Dole. I prefer the term Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month as a man who is still figuring out his own […]

June 25, 2024 — “I’m so disappointed in myself” or “I wish I could’ve just done better,” are common things we say to ourselves after a period of perceived failure. Our feelings of sadness, anger, or even regret are completely valid at this time. It’s easy to get tunnel vision and only recognize the bad that comes out of […]

June 17, 2024 — June often marks the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another – moving on to the next school year, transitioning to college or to the workforce,  relocating to new cities, graduations… While this can be an exciting time, June can also bring a high amount of uncertainty, anxiety, and/or disappointment. Maybe you didn’t […]

June 5, 2024 — For many young people (myself included), our lives are increasingly digital. We spend hours a day, for better or for worse, on our phones scrolling through our TikTok For You Page, liking Instagram posts of both our classmates and celebrities, and swiping through Snapchat stories. Although these can be great platforms for keeping up with […]

June 4, 2024 — Shout out to everyone who is graduating this year! Transitions can be full of mixed emotions – excitement, fear, eagerness, anxiety, hope, and anticipation, just to name a few! In transitional moments, I have found that maintaining positive interpersonal connections and taking purposeful action in alignment with my values and interests have supported me. About […]

May 23, 2024 — When I was a freshman in college, I went to a talk on my campus about sharing your mental health story hosted by my Active Minds chapter for Mental Health Awareness Month. At the time, I was a new mental health advocate, someone who had only been diagnosed with OCD two years prior. Still weeding […]

May 13, 2024 — In recent years, there has been an increase in awareness surrounding mental health. Individuals from every generation have taken the initiative to shine a light on mental health and work towards decreasing the shame and misconceptions associated with mental health. With this being said, it is important to understand that everyone’s mental health journey is […]

May 3, 2024 — We all love our friends, but it can be easy to feel like we can’t make a difference in their life. We have each other’s backs, but sometimes knowing exactly what to say when they come to you can be difficult. We want our friends to know we care, but what happens when we can’t […]

April 29, 2024 — I was shocked and happy when I first received the MEASURE acceptance email. I had applied last minute and thought it was a long shot given Active Mind’s reach. As the introductory emails rolled in a week later, I was excited but unsure exactly what I had signed up for.  MEASURE stands for “Mobilizing and […]