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... The post Mental Health, Movies, and Mission: Meet the Summer 2024 Interns appeared first on Active Minds ..read more

“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 failure, but it’s also important to empathize with yourself. For example, if your friend recently got a rejection letter from a school they really wanted to attend, you would be for them and remind them that this rejection letter has no reflection on them as a person. It’s important to give yo ..read more

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 get into the college you wanted, or maybe you’re afraid your GPA is too low for you to obtain the career you want. Maybe you’re not sure you’re in the right major or on the right career path. That is normal, regardless of whether you are in high school,  coll ..read more

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 old friends and memorializing important life moments, they can also be hubs for misinformation, hate speech, and a catalyst for self-doubt. The month of June is a particularly volatile time for LGBTQ+ individuals. Although Pride Month is a time full of celebra ..read more

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 Empowering Active Minds Students Using Research and Evaluation.” The new Active Minds program allows youth and young adults to provide feedback and ideas on the organization’s data collection and research efforts. Along with four other students, I participated in eight sessions about Acti ..read more

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 wrong, kept me isolated, and my mental health suffered because of it. As a teenager, I kept my true feelings hidden for so long out of fear that I only had one shot to “come out,” and that if I prescribed to the wrong label my true identity would never be seen as legitimate. It was only once I recognized how unfair this ..read more

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 doesn’t identify as gay or straight, the intersection of sexuality and mental health is a complex and undeniable issue provoked by society’s narrow-minded views. As a person of color with a parent who solely understood hetero- and homosexuality as strict binaries, my upbringing was marked by unique struggles ..read more

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 one in five youth ages 13 to 18 grapple with serious mental illnesses at some point in their lives. We have heard these statistics over and over again, and it is time that we take action. Introducing Unité: a youth-based mental health initiative focused on desti ..read more

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 mental health and how the stigma associated with it discourages people from seeking treatment, I had no idea what she was trying to convey to me. It became clear to me that the lady my aunt cautioned me about was suffering from a mental health issue and thus alienated from our community in India.  I have always ..read more

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 culture did not regularly discuss PTSD; however, those around me normalized substance and physical abuse as a way of coping and discipline. I experienced physical abuse and sexual violation in so many instances that I cannot pinpoint when I developed symptoms. Beca ..read more