MY INTERVIEW WITH Alison MALMON, founder and executive director of Active Minds

 Q: Can you share a little bit about the programs you offer and how one can get involved with Active Minds?

A: I would say that overall the organization is about changing the conversation and the culture about mental health. We are really working, taking what we call the public health approach to mental health, working to get everybody to talk openly about mental health all the time, not just in crisis. That way, when people are struggling, they know they are not alone. They know help is available and feel comfortable reaching out for help. All of our programming and really so much of our involvement comes into play there. Our work is around this culture change and this conversation change. We are most well known for our network of chapters that we have in colleges and high schools across the US. We have chapters in just 600 schools across the US all run by students who are working with an advisor at the school to plan mental health awareness and education events for the school. All the chapters look a little bit different, they are all running programs talking about stress, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, post traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, whatever the issues seem to be most impacting the students at that school that is what we ask the folks who are part of the active minds chapter plan those around. They are doing work around stress relief during exam time or talking about suicide during suicide prevention month in September or eating disorders during its week in February, you name it. We also have a number of partnerships with different groups that have relationships with schools. So, we are building a partnership with the PTA, we have some with college groups like fraternities and sororities, student athletes, and we are looking specifically at the mental health needs of those specific groups and how we can bring some of this education and this training to those students too. Beyond our network of chapters and our campus presence, we have national and community programs that again are all focused on this idea of changing the conversation about mental health. We have a group of active minds speakers who have been professionally trained to share their mental health stories or their stories of being an ally to audiences like assemblies, conferences, to get people thinking about their own stories and how they can reach out to folks around them. We have a suicide convention exhibit called Send Silence Packing which is specifically about the impact of suicide and the role we can all play in suicide prevention. We have a training that we launched last September called VAR (Validate, Appreciate, Refer) which is just a simple set of tools. We call it everyday conversations for everyday struggles. So, if somebody around you is struggling and you don’t know what to say to them, VAR is kind of the training of how to be there as a friend to be supportive. That is us. We have a number of other programs too, but those are the big ones. How you can get involved is based on what you want and what is available at your school. We certainly always encourage folks to either start an Active Minds Chapter, if there isn’t one or get involved with one at your school, but even if you don’t have a chapter at your school or are interested in going down that path, you can help bring an Active Minds speaker to your school, you can help support the Send Silence Packing exhibit coming to your school or community, you can just go online and learn our VAR tool, we have a whole program running right now called Hear For You. You can take a pledge to get a sticker to put on your laptop or on your phone to say I am here for you. All sorts of everyday ways that people can help change the culture around mental health as more individual plus the things you can do to bring our programming to your larger group, youth group, school, camp, whatever it might be.

Q: I read that each year Active Minds gives out healthy campus awards to schools that prioritize mental health. What are the kind of things that schools that won this year and past years doing to support mental health that other schools might be able to learn from?

A: We have so many answers to that question. I want to go back to the first comment you made that yeah students are at the core of so much of what we do. Even with the Healthy Campus Award, one thing that is important to ask is schools can feel as though they are doing a lot of really important work, but students don’t feel it or it doesn’t come across or come down to the students then we are not having the impact that we intend. Part of the Healthy Campus Award we actually require a letter both from the president of the college to say yes mental health and overall health and well-being is an important part of this school, but we also require a letter of support from the student body president saying yes our school actually does care about us and we really get behind their application because we think it is really important that we not just talk up a policy level that doesn’t actually end up reaching students because we know that lots of people can have the best of intentions, but not really get very far with the impact. So, that is that. I would say there are so many things to be learned and I would honestly put you to the key findings report that we have written in our connection to the Healthy Campus Award. We purposely have taken a variety of the best practices we are seeing in a variety schools and trying to bring them to a place where everybody can see themselves in it, so I can talk to you about how some schools are integrating their health with their mental health services, so it is all happening in one building. Students are walking into one room and not feeling the additional stigma of walking into a counseling center. I also recognized that that is not feasible at all schools. In a high school, the guidance counselor is going to be in a different room than the nurse’s office, and that is just how it has to be. There are many things that schools can do that schools are demonstrating the ability to do to really prioritize health and well-being, and I think that is the key component of our Healthy Campus Award. We want to celebrate those schools that are exemplary in their treatment of student health and well- being and how they are doing it in their own special ways, but they are acceptably using resources, either human resources or financial resources, they are partnering with groups in the community or around campus, they are really listening to students and putting students needs first, and there are a variety of criterium that we use, but specific examples I would put you to that key findings report on our website.

Q: During Covid-19, do you think colleges have risen to the occasion to support their students’ mental health? What are the best practices and methods you have seen?

A: To be very honest, right now I think everybody is just trying to do what they can do and trying to learn in the moment. We actually did a webinar, maybe two weeks ago, of some of our healthy campus award winners talking about how they are addressing mental health during the pandemic. That is on our website if you are interested in hearing more of what they had to say. I think time will tell on who did what well and how. What we have really been advocating for at Active Minds is support and transparency. For schools to make sure that they still have mental health supports available to their students and hopefully it is through their counselor center and typical counselor sessions, but it can’t always be that way, and if not to make sure they have either community partnerships or technology partnerships available for students who are really struggling. Also, to be very open and transparent with their students about the fact that this is a really hard time and we as a school are in this together and here are the resources for reaching out. It is one thing to have resources, but it is another thing to actually help people recognize that they are there and feel comfortable accessing them. It is that second part that Active Minds really focuses on, so that is what we have been really working to advise the schools on. Also, you can’t talk about mental health without talking about health issues and basic necessities. The schools that have a built a food pantry open and letting students know that there is a food pantry and the school that are looking at the financial needs of their students and ensuring that they are supporting their students financially as much as possible is going to help support their mental health needs. Right now, there is not a lot that has come forward about people who are doing it well and not doing it well because everything is changing on a daily basis, but I think schools are trying and it is really just a question of what are their resources, how can they prioritize it, and how can they communicate to their students, faculty, and community as a whole that they understand that this is a particularly difficult time and are here for each other and making the best decisions they can.

Q: How has active minds adapted to continue spreading this important message during Covid-19?

A: We have for the past two months contributing all of our work to being in response to COVID-19. We started by launching an online resource hub. You go to activeminds.com/covid and it is also a pop up when you come to our main page. You can access all the resources we put on, about 15 different webinars related to different mental health components of the covid pandemic everything from how to talk to quarantine and stress, what it means to be displaced during this time, to the specific needs around student athletes. We have also written about 15 blog posts with related content, so I encourage you people to access that. We are really working to support with our students who are part of Active Minds chapters and bringing mental health advocacy online, but also students as a whole and supporting students mental health right now by opening up a flash network, we are pushing out a texting channel really soon, all with the idea of this is a particularly difficult time for young adults, for high school and college students, and Active Minds has a unique place in having such a big network and a respected brand that this is a chance for us to really support students as a whole and support the mental health work that needs to be happening even while we are social distanced.

Q: If you could offer one piece of advice to a high school student, what would it be and why?

A: The advice that I would say is that it is okay to not be okay. I think especially to be a teenager right now and to feel all of the emotions that you must be feeling and often times you feel all those emotions in the span of an hour, or a day, or a week, whatever it may be, that that is okay. You can both be grateful for what you have and also feel lost by what you don’t have. Those feelings are okay too. This is a hard reality. This introduction of what it means to struggle with your mental health, for many teens I know this is probably the first time they have struggled, and it is a really hard place to be in. it is understandable, and it is normal. Or if you are somebody who has struggled with mental health in the past and you are struggling even more now, or experiencing what you have, this is a hard time. And so, it is okay to not be okay. Reach out for help if you feel comfortable doing so to anybody you can. If you are a teen who knows somebody who might be struggling, there are things that you can do to help support them and get them the support that they need. That’s where our VAR tool really comes in. it is sometimes hard to reach out for help when you are in the middle of it, but it is easier to recognize it when you are another person. There are ways that we as friends and family members can help those around us and really validate experiences and appreciate that we are sharing those experiences and then really refer and connect them with resources. So, there are ways that we can all help each other in this as we are all going through the series of emotions.