Active Minds Mentors White House Youth Mental Health Leaders

Washington, D.C. – Today, Active Minds, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for young adult mental health, took part in the inaugural Mental Health Youth Action Forum. The forum, organized by MTV Entertainment Group and featuring First Lady Jill Biden, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and Selena Gomez, created a national platform for young adults from across the country to drive action on mental health through storytelling and media by presenting their innovative ideas to media companies and leaders from the Biden-Harris Administration. 

With almost 20 years of work to promote the young adult voice in the mental health conversation, Active Minds was proud to work alongside other leading organizations to coach and champion fresh ideas to help change the way our communities talk and treat mental health. Additionally, five of the young adults represented in the prestigious group of 30 are affiliated with Active Minds. 

“Active Minds has long led the call for young adults to be given a seat at the table in regards to mental health. The Biden Administration and MTV are bringing this extraordinary group of young adults together to share their big, life-saving ideas with change makers and in so doing, widely and publicly reinforcing this important shift,” said Alison Malmon, founder and executive director of Active Minds. “Real, lasting change in the way we treat mental illness in our country can only be accomplished when all levels of society, from students, to policy makers, to entertainers and the media, to leadership, work together to make big ideas happen.” 

President Biden’s recent statements on student mental health during the state of the union and other recent reporting show the urgent need for youth mental health support and affirm Active Minds’ highly successful approach to engaging our most vulnerable population, young adults and teens. 

Laura Horne, Active Minds’ chief program officer, has personally mentored a group of students for the Forum on ways to change the conversation around mental health through storytelling and media.  

“Over the last couple of months, I have had the pleasure of working with a truly outstanding group of young adults from varying backgrounds to help them strategize, develop, and problem solve to come up with an innovative and creative solution to raise awareness of mental health,” said Laura Horne. “Most notably, the participating youth have ensured that their ideas center the experiences and needs of marginalized communities. Their innovation and forward thinking, driven by their own lived experiences, demonstrate that to effectively tackle the mental health crisis, we need youth at the forefront.”    

In the US, teens and young adults face a mental health crisis. A troubling spike in the treatment of teens for self-inflicted injuries has arisen in recent months and years, and nearly one in five teens have recently seriously considered suicide. 

The forum, which emphasized the power of storytelling through partnerships with media, illustrates the need for everyone invested in this pressing issue of our time to work to erase mental health stigma – together. 

To learn more about Active Minds and our proven approach to changing the culture around mental health visit activeminds.org. 

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About Active Minds: Active Minds is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization promoting mental health awareness and education for young adults. Active Minds has a presence at more than 1,000 campuses, schools, communities, and workplaces nationwide and is powered by a robust Chapter Network, the nationally acclaimed Send Silence Packing® display, inspiring Active Minds Speakers, and our tailored Active Minds @Work initiative. The organization is dedicated to ending the silence and changing the culture around mental health for everyone. To learn more, visit www.activeminds.org.