Hosting Interest Guide for Send Silence Packing®
Learn how to bring this profoundly impactful exhibit to your campus or community.
An award-winning traveling exhibit
Each year, Send Silence Packing® visits 60-80 schools, organizations, and communities. This all-day exhibit inspires action around suicide prevention and connects participants with local and national mental health resources. Send Silence Packing® is a catalyst for conversations that contribute to a community’s overall positive climate for mental health.
Ready to Apply?
Contact us today to bring this transformative display to your campus or community.
About the application process
The application process allows Active Minds the opportunity to learn more about your community as a potential host site. Each community team is led through a needs assessment conversation to determine the best timing to host an exhibit before moving forward with scheduling the exhibit to be onsite.
HERE’S HOW TO GET STARTED:
Begin an open conversation with community members, youth and young adults, and trusted professionals to discuss your mental health goals. Do your own research on our website, read our FAQ Section, and determine whether Send Silence Packing® is a good fit for your community.
Be sure to utilize the preparation checklist below to determine if you are ready to host an exhibit stop. Discuss a timeline for hosting and secure funding, convene a team of hosts to delegate roles and responsibilities, and gather ideas on areas to host the exhibit.
Submit an application, which will include a needs assessment for your community 4-6 months before your ideal event date. The team will send an email confirming receipt of your application and reach out with additional information and an offer to connect and discuss further.
What’s provided
We have adopted a “wraparound” model for our booking process that ensures deep collaboration with your team from start to finish to ensure that the impact of Send Silence Packing® on your community lasts well beyond the day of the event.
Each host team will submit an application and needs assessment to receive the best support and offerings from our team to help reach their goals for a successful exhibit stop. Your on-site team and all volunteers will engage in virtual training sessions to best prepare for day-of expectations to support both the exhibit, and your community during the exhibit stop.
All hosts will also receive follow-up support and a one-year impact report to illustrate the progress made as we will strive to make your community feel seen, heard, and supported in your mental health journey.
HERE ARE THE CORE PIECES OF THE EXHIBIT INCLUDED IN EACH BOOKING:
The Send Silence Packing® Story Labyrinth
The focal point of the exhibit where you will find 100 stories affixed to 100 backpacks attached to eye-level T-Stands to encourage reflection, action, and engagement.
Behind the Backpacks Theater
An immersive and sensory-oriented virtual experience that allows participants to hear directly from the storytellers inside our pop-up theater.
Resource Tent
Our learning hub to support your next steps as gather information on national and local resources. A mental health professional will be available to answer questions and point you toward appropriate services.
Affirmation Space featuring the Hope Wall and Share Your Story Booth
As the final piece of the exhibit, we encourage you to jot down a response to our thought-provoking prompt: “What would you say to someone you know is struggling?” or share your own story in the Share Your Story Booth.
Are you ready to host an Exhibit stop?
Learn how to get started below.
Use the following checklist to prepare for an impactful event:
Convene a team of three to five peers, colleagues, or community members who will serve in varied roles to ensure that the program is a success! This may include (but is not limited to, as you know your community best): a contract/funding specialist, marketing expert, mental health professional, student leader/champion, volunteer captain, and general liaison between Active Minds National and your organization
Appropriate funding for the program and confirm that all funds are available and secured. The total cost for Send Silence Packing® is $7,500. If you believe there is a demonstrated need for funding to cover the cost of Send Silence Packing®, please feel welcome to explore and apply for our Active Minds Program Fund. We are here to support you in accessing the community-changing experiences we offer.
Communicate your plans to book Send Silence Packing® with the business, finance, or legal office at your school or organization and create a plan to execute the contract. Once you are prepared to book the exhibit, Active Minds will send our official agreement to be reviewed and signed. We will work with your contracting specialist to amend and complete the agreement so all parties are satisfied and aligned on expectations.
Identify an outdoor and indoor space (in case of inclement weather) to host the main event. The Send Silence Packing® exhibit is typically held on a weekday (Monday-Friday) from 9:00am to 4:00pm, with 1.5 hours added on both ends to allow ample time for set up and breakdown. This means that volunteer start time begins at 7:30am and concludes at 5:30pm. We can also accommodate community stops on the weekends or multi-day exhibit days with advance notice.
Craft a plan to recruit and retain 25 volunteers. We ask our host teams to have this provided support to ensure our on-site Send Silence Packing® team has the people power to support the need for equipment care and management. Organized volunteer shifts throughout the day are highly encouraged for participant engagement and program success. *PLEASE NOTE* that 25 volunteers (with the bulk of volunteers on deck for set up and tear down) is part of your contractual obligation to Active Minds when booking Send Silence Packing®.
Select a date(s)! During your first meeting with the Send Silence Packing® team, we will discuss which prospective dates you may host the event. After convening the call and mapping out the above steps, please let the team know which date you select so we can place a temporary hold on our tour calendar. Your spot will be held for one week, unless otherwise arranged.
Apply today
Contact us today to bring this profoundly impactful display to your campus or community!
For questions and booking support, please reach out directly via email to our Send Silence Packing® team at sendsilencepacking@activeminds.org.
FAQs
Send Silence Packing® is a traveling exhibit and an immersive experience that tells the stories and centers the voices of youth to end the silence surrounding suicide. The exhibit serves as a mobilizing force to change the way we think, talk, and feel about mental health, and, perhaps most importantly, how we show up for the people around us.
Since its inaugural exhibit on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2008, Send Silence Packing® has reached more than 350 communities and 1,000,000 individuals with messages of hope and support. As one of the longest running programs at Active Minds, Send Silence Packing® was launched to end the silence surrounding suicide through the power of story and resource sharing. With young adults at the forefront of our movement to change the conversation about mental health, Send Silence Packing® has historically and primarily toured on college and university campuses across the country, although we have recently expanded our reach to include a more broad range of community settings.
At Active Minds, we believe that everyone plays a role in changing the conversation about mental health. As culture changers and movement builders, we know that our youth is our power in mobilizing the next generation. As a signature program at Active Minds, Send Silence Packing® aims to validate the experiences of youth and young adults by telling stories that show how we are not alone in our struggles. Our goal is to spark lasting mental health change in communities by stimulating conversations, encouraging youth and young adults to share their perspectives and stories, and creating a space to advocate for mental health resources and action in their communities.
In an effort to align Send Silence Packing® with Active Minds’ strategic plan and newly released Theory of Change, the team made the decision to ground the program for one season (Spring 2023). During this time, the Send Silence Packing® national staff researched and designed a revamp of the nationally acclaimed program to ensure that it adheres to public health best practices of mental health promotion and suicide prevention and aligns with an evidence-based theoretical framework.
Send Silence Packing® 2.0 focuses on a wraparound experience for hosts and community members for long term impact that promotes ongoing conversations about mental health rather than a one-time intervention in the form of a singular event. In addition to a customized needs assessment, a menu of options, and a one-year impact report offered to each host as part of the pre-and post-event services available to them, the landscape of the program itself on the day of the event has been transformed in the image of an immersive experience similar to a guided museum exhibit. Its four main parts include a story labyrinth with 100 stories on 100 backpacks that are elevated on T-stands for accessibility and visual purposes, a Behind the Backpacks audio storytelling tent with headphones and seating, a Resource Tent with literature for help-seeking and skills building, and a Hope Wall and Story Sharing area to encourage reflection and uplifting messages.
Send Silence Packing® is a traveling exhibit that visits schools and communities nationwide. Before booking the exhibit to visit your community, you will meet with the Send Silence Packing® Team at Active Minds National to discuss what’s included in the package, review expectations for hosting, schedule a date for the exhibit to be on-site, and secure a location on your campus or in your community. We bring all the equipment needed for the event and walk you through each step as it relates to planning, volunteer training, and wraparound services for pre-and-post event community support. The event itself is typically held outdoors (weather permitting) in a 50’ x 50’ ft space and takes place from 9:00am to 4:00pm, but can accommodate larger indoor spaces and buildings.
There’s a lot you can do to get involved! For more information, explore our array of program offerings here.
Whatever your reaction may be to the stories you interacted with today, know that your feelings are valid and you are not alone. It’s okay to experience a range of emotions, and it’s often helpful to hold space for all of them, big or small. As you process these emotions, we encourage you to center self or community care to share the load and end the silence around mental health and suicide: Call a friend, contact your local counseling center, go on a walk, watch a comfort TV show, or dance to some music.
If you need immediate help or support, text or call 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
We welcome stories about hope and recovery to share through one of several different platforms; such as accompanying a backpack in the Send Silence Packing® exhibit, featured in the digital experience Behind the Backpacks, or as a video created on Soapboxx® to be shared on your social media. We thank you for sharing your story and appreciate your vulnerability in personalizing your experience.