Active Minds

Active Minds is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting mental health, especially among young adults, via peer-to-peer dialogue and interaction. Active Minds was founded by Alison Malmon in 2003, after her older brother died by suicide in 2000¹. Active Minds has over 600 chapters and offers programs focused on mental health awareness and education. These include Send Silence Packing, a traveling suicide prevention exhibit; Active Minds Speakers, a group of presenters who provide mental health education; the Healthy Campus Award, which recognizes colleges prioritizing student well-being; and Active Minds @Work, which works to build a mental health culture in the workplace.

Active Minds is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting mental health, especially among young adults, via peer-to-peer dialogue and interaction. Active Minds was founded by Alison Malmon in 2003, after her older brother died by suicide in 2000. Active Minds has over 600 chapters and offers programs focused on mental health awareness and education. These include Send Silence Packing, a traveling suicide prevention exhibit; Active Minds Speakers, a group of presenters who provide mental health education; the Healthy Campus Award, which recognizes colleges prioritizing student well-being; and Active Minds @Work, which works to build a mental health culture in the workplace.

History

Alison Malmon launched the first student-led chapter of what would become Active Minds in her junior year at the University of Pennsylvania, after the death of her brother. Brian Malmon was a student at Columbia University where he was a member of the Dean's list, and was a leader in many extracurricular activities. However, he was suffering from what was later diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder. After his death, many friends claimed that they had noticed changes in Brian, but were not sure what to say or how to approach the situation, and therefore did nothing. This silence and lack of awareness is what prompted Malmon to start Active Minds. The organization, originally called "Open Minds", was dedicated to increasing awareness about mental illness. In 2003, when Malmon graduated, she launched Active Minds, Inc as a 501(c)(3) organization. She became the youngest person to receive the Tipper Gore Remember the Children Award from the National Mental Health Association.

Programs

Active Minds primarily operates through peer-to-peer methods, supported by their chapter network in high schools, colleges, and universities. They also provide various nationwide programs for students, workplace professionals, and organizations of any size. Active Minds has over 600 student-led chapters, both across the United States and elsewhere. Each year, thousands of students join an Active Minds chapter as advocates, stigma fighters, and educators for mental health. Transform Your Campus is an Active Minds program for student leaders featuring guides on how to implement advocacy campaigns on campuses. Campaign initiatives include adding mental health crisis numbers to student IDs, improving campus leave of absence policies, and reducing the rate of deaths by suicide by limiting access to fatal methods. Active Minds K-12 initiatives aim to mobilize and empower youth and young adults to change the conversation about mental health and engage in proven peer-to-peer approaches in their schools. These initiatives include the Active Minds Mental Health Advocacy Academy, the Your Voice is Your Power campaign, and K-12-specific mental health resources. Since 2004, a national conference brings together young adults and mental health leaders; campus and school professionals; government, foundation, and corporate representatives to share ideas and advance knowledge about mental health education, advocacy, and awareness. The conference annually showcases the most innovative and effective approaches to supporting young adult well-being and changing the conversation about mental health on campuses, in workplaces, and within our communities. Active Minds @Work offers tools for the next generation of employees and employers, designed to improve the culture of mental health in high-performing environments.

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Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1354082271 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.