Promoting mental health awareness

March 31, 2016

The student club Active Minds works to destigmatize mental illness and promote well-being. Chartered in 2013, Skidmore’s Active Minds is one of 452 chapters at campuses across the country. Current leaders Jen Hoffer ’16, Nava Caluori ’16, and Linh Hoang ’16 have been heightening the club’s presence by forming partnerships with other clubs and using creative means to start conversations.

An April 2 event, as part of Social Justice Month, is the club’s Turn It Around Project—a photography series that replaces negative self-concepts and perceptions with positive affirmations. The interactive event will offer students the opportunity to participate in a nation-wide campaign and transform their self-image through the power of photography. The mission of the project is to “create awareness, establish community, and garner positive for the best and the worst in us all.” Light refreshments will be served.   

All are welcome to join the project, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., in room 207 of Tisch Learning Center.

Previously Active Minds collaborated with Lively Lucy’s coffeehouse to host an open-mic event where students used music and poetry to express how mental health issues have touched their lives. And the club worked closely with Skidmore’s Counseling Center to develop a survey about the perceived stigma surrounding mental illness.

“Mental health awareness if very important to me,” Hoffer says. “Studying sociology has affected the way I think about mental health in society, because there is a lack of institutionalized support for mental illness. It’s difficult for many people—especially minorities and people with lower incomes—to get access to affordable mental health care. I hope to make change through policy or interpersonal connections.”

Soon the club will start its first PostSecretU campaign, a community art project in which students can create and send unique postcards expressing their worries, fears, secrets, and confusions about mental health. Just one more way, says Hoffer, “to engage the campus in conversations that break the silence.” ~ By Lisa Fierstein