Active Minds

Alison Landberg, President and Founder of Active Minds at College of Saint Scholastica and Member of the Active Minds Student Advisory Committee, says:

"You can't turn on a television today without seeing a public service announcement discussing the importance of seeking help for depression, or without seeing an advertisement for a medication to aid in dealing with the symptoms of depression.  Yet, you can go through an entire year of college without ever mentioning mental health to a friend, and it would seem okay.  It is my hope and desire to change this. Mental health is something we all live with, day in and day out. We all feel stressed, and in college, it is not uncommon to hear people complain about all they have to do; the fact that no one feels they have enough time to accomplish it all.

My freshman year of college, I had two close friends loose their battle with depression.  I sincerely wish that no one will ever have to endure the hardships of loosing a loved one to suicide, and I hope that with Active Minds, we are able to raise the awareness of mental health, and remove the stigma so that people are willing to seek help.  In the year that Active Minds at the College of Saint Scholastica has been around, we have organized amazing events and received a lot of praise from faculty and the community for all of the hard work we have put into raising awareness about mental health.

For the past two years, I've been given the opportunity to be a member of the Student Advisory Committee (SAC) for Active Minds. Working with chapters across the country has been an empowering and uplifting experience. Not only have I attended Active Minds' national conferences but as the recently elected SAC Vice-President, I now have the opportunity to help plan events that are a part of these conferences. As a member of the SAC, I am proud to work with other chapters, particularly when I hear about all the great events chapters put on throughout the year. The members of the SAC share an incredible passion for Active Minds, and have high hopes for all of our chapters across the US and Canada.  Finally, it is my hope that each college and university will soon have an Active Minds chapter, so that together, we can all break the silence."