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Meet the 2023-2024 Active Minds Student Advisory Committee (And Learn How They Can Help You!)

The Active Minds Student Advisory Committee (SAC) is made up of fifteen young adult leaders who represent the Active Minds student voice nationally through media and other student forums. They also advise Active Minds national staff on student engagement, community building, program planning, Chapter engagement and management, National Conference planning, and program promotion. Powered by…

Active Minds Programs & Campaigns

How to Put Mental Health First This School Year (And Get Others to Join You)

Pencils? Check. Notebooks? Check. The planner you were obsessed with that you’ll use diligently for one week and then forget about? Also, check. As you prepare to head back to school this fall, it’s just as important to check in with your mental health (and the well-being of your friends and peers!) as it is…

Advocacy & Awareness

Breaking Down the Biden Administration’s New Accessibility-Focused Mental Health Policy

In 2021, U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, declared that mental health challenges had devastating effects on younger populations. Since then, The Biden Administration has shown a keen interest in addressing the mental health crisis in America through policy. And progress has been made — including expanded crisis response services and mental healthcare access in schools….

Advocacy & Awareness

Breaking the Cycle: Challenging Mental Health Taboos In India

When I was 10 years old, my aunt used to take me for a walk to the nearby park, and before going there, I was always warned not to go near this lady. My aunt told me she had some “special unnatural problems.” Before learning about the different problems people may have due to their…

Active Minds Programs & Campaigns

Combatting Stigma Surrounding Asian American Mental Health Using Language

Being Asian and Filipino, it was so challenging to talk about my mental health, particularly due to the stigma in my family and community. As a college professor currently visiting the United States (but who was raised in the Philippines, a dominantly Catholic country), I observed from a young age how mental health issues, such…

Advocacy & Awareness

Taking Up Space: A Mental Health Accommodations Guide for Students

Being a student is no joke. Between classes, activities, work, and social life, things get overwhelming fast. And if you also live with a mental health condition like anxiety, depression, or ADHD, it can feel impossible to keep up. But you’ve got this! Resources exist to support you — accommodations for students managing their mental…

Advocacy & Awareness

Three Actions You Can Take to Support BIPOC Mental Health

Mental health awareness and access to treatment have grown immensely in the past few decades. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reported that 47.2% of U.S. adults with mental illness received treatment in 2021. Slowly but surely, actions are being taken to change the culture around mental health, but to continue we must address the…

Holidays & Observances

Your Perfect Self-Care Day: Expectation vs. Reality

A peek online will expose you to a seemingly unlimited number of self-care routines, tips, and advice. But take a second look, and you’ll see a disconnection between what internet influencers portray as self-care and what a self-care day actually looks like. What does it mean to care for yourself? Is it popping a different…

Active Minds Programs & Campaigns

How to Support the Mental Health of First-Generation Students

Isolation. No one ever told me how hard it would be to navigate my mental health as one of the many first-generation students entering college each year. I sat in my single dorm room for 48 hours after my guardian moved me in to avoid interacting with the people living on my floor. I sat…

Active Minds News

Five Reasons to Attend the Active Minds Mental Health Conference

For many months I worked with the Active Minds team to prepare for the first in-person Mental Health Conference in almost three and a half years. The months leading up to the Conference felt like an eternity in anticipation, but once it started, the two days at the Conference flew by. Looking back at those…