In a recently published op-ed by The Hechinger Report, “Mental health services are crucially important for student success but often overlooked,” Active Minds’ Founder and Executive Director Alison Malmon discusses the importance of a positive mental health culture on campus, as well as questions to ask when considering a college.
Active Minds' Story
Suicide Prevention
Workplace Mental Health
Founder and Executive Director
Alison Malmon is the founder and Executive Director of Active Minds, and a sought after mental health expert. Alison formed the organization in 2003 as a 21-year-old, following the suicide of her brother and only sibling Brian. Wanting to end the silence that caused her brother to suffer alone and ultimately take his own life, Alison created a group on her campus at the University of Pennsylvania to promote open dialogue around mental health. Since then, Active Minds has grown into the country’s foremost mental health organization for students and young adults, with award-winning programs and a vibrant network of campus chapters located at more than 600 colleges, universities, and high schools nationwide.
Active Minds Programs
Mental Health Policy
Active Minds Students
Chief Program Officer
As Chief Program Officer at Active Minds, Laura develops innovative strategies and unique partnerships to empower students to help society embrace a comprehensive, public health approach to mental health. She oversees Active Minds’ evidence-based peer-to-peer approach and award-winning programmatic portfolio, including Active Minds’ nationwide network of more than 600 college and high school chapters, Send Silence Packing®, Active Minds Speakers, V-A-R®, among many others.
Prior to Active Minds, Laura provided technical assistance and training to a nationwide network of multi-sector community coalitions to implement health policy, systems, and environmental change and prevent chronic disease in schools, workplaces, and communities through her work at the National Association of County and City Health Officials. She also managed a public health communications portfolio at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Laura earned her Master of Public Health degree in community health sciences from Tulane University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Loyola University New Orleans. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing.
Active Minds Programs
Active Minds Students
Mental Health Workshops
VP, Community Initiatives
Becky oversees and leads the Active Minds California Mental Health Services Act (CalMHSA) funded initiative. She has been supporting the creation of peer-powered student advocacy programs, under CalMHSA contracts, for five years, beginning in 2012 at Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University. Becky served as Adjunct Faculty at Santa Rosa Junior College, where she taught a course on personal health and issues at the forefront of public health. She has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from University of California, Davis, and a Master’s of Public Health from Columbia University. Becky also co-founded the Powerful Voices Project, a documentary film series highlighting the stories of resilience and recovery from people who have experienced sexual assault.
K-12 Mental Health
LGBTQ+ Mental Health
Health Education and Equity
Director, K-12 Initiatives
Lauren has spent her entire career advocating for youth and young adult programming in K-12 education, higher education, and community spaces. Most recently, she worked for the Colorado School of Public Health School recruiting schools to participate in the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS), Colorado’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), and Smart Source. In this role, Lauren supported schools in administering the surveys and provided technical support to schools and community partners as they navigated using results to inform school and adolescent health work across Colorado. She is a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusive school board policies and ensures the work she is a part of has an equitable and intersectional lens. Lauren’s background is in student leadership, health education and equity, policy and advocacy, and equity and inclusion.
Higher Ed Mental Health
Public Health Policy
Director, Research & Evaluation
Amy is interested in the relationship between health and education. Blending together her experiences as a former high school teacher, higher education health educator, and young adult health researcher, she has found a niche in working to improve adolescent and young adult mental health. Amy is a doctoral candidate at the University of South Florida in the College of Public Health, holds a Master in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in Human Services from Elon University.
K-12 Mental Health
Senior Manager, K-12 Partnerships
Ashley Hill is a human development professional with national and international experience building social and emotional competencies in adults, youth, and organizational processes. Her expertise lies in facilitating safe physical and emotional learning spaces by building cultural and self awareness that lead to the examination of implicit biases. She is joyful trainer of youth and adults in a range of content including sexual and behavioral health. She is most proud of her work designing partnerships, programs, and training content that moves youth serving organizations forward for Black, brown, and LGBTQ youth. At Active Minds, Ashley is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to strengthen and scale the nationwide impact of the Active Minds’ K-12 network; develops outreach strategies and partnerships between Active Minds and K-12 organizations, specifically supporting adult stakeholders (i.e. educators, parents, caregivers, etc.) in districts, schools, and national associations.
K-12 Mental Health
Senior Manager, K-12 Student Leadership
Active Minds Students
Higher Ed Mental Health
Healthy Campus Award
Senior Manager, Higher Education
Markie oversees Active Minds’ work in higher education, focusing on mental health support for college and university students, staff, and faculty. Markie is originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and received her bachelor’s in psychology from Marquette University. During her time at Marquette, Markie served as the Active Minds’ chapter president and was the president of the Student Advisory Committee from 2015 to 2016. Markie received her Master’s of Science in Higher Education and Student Affairs from Indiana University-Bloomington. Before joining the Active Minds Staff, Markie worked at Auburn University focusing on mental health programming and peer health education, and was the co-advisor for the campus’s Active Minds chapter.
Higher Ed Mental Health
Public Health Policy
Senior Manager, Research
Garrett oversees Active Minds’ growing research portfolio. He graduated from the University of California, Davis with a B.S. in psychology with an emphasis in mathematics and a minor in education. He then earned a M.S. and Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Purdue University. His previous research focused on creating, evaluating, and refining evidence-based interventions that promoted effective self-regulated learning.
Please contact Amanda Horn, Senior Manager of Marketing & PR at Active Minds.
The Active Minds Student Advisory Committee can speak on topics such as mental health on high school and college campuses, therapy and medication, mental illness, and more. A full list of our SAC students can be found here, and for more information or to get in touch with a student, please contact the Active Minds Communications Team.
August 15, 2022
Active Minds is the nation’s premier nonprofit organization supporting mental health awareness and education for students. Through award-winning programs and services, Active Minds is empowering a new generation to change the conversation about mental health.
Active Minds is the nation's premier nonprofit organization promoting mental health for young adults.
