Student Stories
Mental Health, Movies, and Mission: Meet the Summer 2024 Interns
A big thank you to our incredible Summer 2024 interns, our biggest advocates for mental health awareness! Every semester, our class of interns at Active Minds contributes to important initiatives, including chapter support, program development, fundraising, and so much more. We’re grateful for the work our interns have done this summer and their contributions toward…
Embracing Failure
“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…
Advice for Creating a Life Full of Purpose
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…
Managing Mental Health as an LGBTQ+ Youth in a Social World
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…
What is MEASURE?
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…
Tips to Overcome “Coming Out” Anxiety From Someone Who Did
Three years ago, I came out as a lesbian. Spoiler alert — that is no longer the label I identify with. And that’s okay. But for a long time, I didn’t think it was okay. And that fear of “misidentifying,” of coming out and then changing my mind, of just being what I perceived as…
Embracing My Fluidity: The Intersection of Sexuality and Mental Health
Growing up, I always felt like an outsider. The world seemed to operate in binary terms, forcing me to choose between being straight or gay. This can be a difficult path for anyone, but it becomes even more arduous when faced with the complexities of identity and acceptance. As someone who identifies as fluid, the…
Behind-the-Scenes of a Mental Health Initiative for Gen Z, By Gen Z
In the face of a youth mental health crisis, the urgency for inspiring mental health change has never been more apparent. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy has sounded the alarm, highlighting that a youth mental health crisis is already brewing. Startling data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that more than…
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…
How My PTSD Diagnosis Helped My Childhood Self Heal
Trigger Warning: Discussion of physical and sexual abuse. I wasn’t diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) until a couple of years ago. There was no real point that I recall where the symptoms started because in reality, for me, living in fight-and-flight mode was the way I’ve lived as long as I could remember. My…
Active Minds is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization promoting mental health awareness and education for young adults.