Our Minds Matter (OMM) recognizes the importance of uplifting teen voices in mental health awareness and action. Strong prosocial skills, one of our four program outcomes, highlight the importance of peer-to-peer support, a core protective factor in preventing teen suicide. As we complete another school year, we want to recognize an OMM club project that does just this.
On May 21, OC Minds Matter (OCMM) at Ocean City High School in Ocean City, New Jersey, distributed a free self-help booklet — made for teens, by teens — to their school community. The booklet combines mental health definitions and research with personal input and designs from students.
The club began working on the booklet in January 2025 as a spring semester project. The book answers commonly asked questions, including the difference between mental health and mental illness and what to expect in therapy. Angelina Montello — a clinical psychotherapist, high school mental health counselor, and OCMM club sponsor — said the goal of the booklet was to highlight what information and resources students need from a teen perspective.
“We really wanted it to feel and sound as though words were being spoken from a peer,” she said.
Over six weeks, club members worked on their own pages for the book, receiving feedback and edits from Montello along the way.
Some highlights of the booklet include:
- Student-designed artwork and coloring pages
- List of mental health resources
- Space to draft a personal mental health action plan
- How to support a friend
- Common teen struggles
- Positive affirmations
- Coping and self-care practices
OCMM also garnered participation from non-club members. The club placed an OC Minds Matter poster board in their school library, inviting students to draw and write words of encouragement. The decorated poster became the book cover, increasing student and staff involvement and knowledge of the club.
In addition to promoting prosocial skills, the self-help booklet demonstrates a variety of other protective factors. For instance, students who collaborated on the project had the opportunity to strengthen their social connectedness. Additionally, the first pages of the booklet list mental health organizations, apps, and other resources. This helps combat the stigma around seeking help during mental health struggles. Lastly, the booklet was intentionally left in black and white to encourage students to color and draw at their leisure. This, in turn, allows students to cope with stress through creativity.
To ensure students had access to this resource without any barriers, the club decided not to sell the books.
“It’s a resource with information that everyone should be able to have,” said Emma Saul, 10th-grade student leader.
OCMM student leaders also spoke about why they got involved with the club. Senior student leader Ryan Bruno said he plans to study clinical psychology in college. Being part of OCMM club allowed him to get more comfortable talking about mental health in preparation for his future.
“I wanted to get the ball rolling with some of the things I’d probably be learning about,” he said.
Montello said Bruno also regularly asked her about what it’s like working in the mental health field. His curiosity made her consider that other students may have similar questions.
“That’s a good thing to be inquisitive of, and I’m curious how many other people don’t know,” Montello said.
For Saul, OCMM started as a group for her to get resources. Over time, however, her care and passion for the club grew, and she wanted to change how her school community looked at mental health.
“I wanted to make a difference,” Saul said. “It spread from wanting a resource into giving that resource to everyone in our school to change the culture.”
As a new staff member of the OC School District, Montello noted that students have played a major role in the club’s success.
“Ryan and Emma really have been pivotal in everything we’ve done with the club,” she said. “They really have been my saving grace on this.”
Montello added that being a club sponsor allows her to help safeguard students’ mental health and challenge systemic issues around mental health.
“I am not afraid to step up and say we need to make some changes and have some real conversation and give our kids a fighting chance,” she said. “They deserve that respect.”
Montello said that mental health is not discussed in schools as much as it should be. This may cause students to feel underprepared to overcome future obstacles.
“In my clinical experience, in my personal experience, [the students are] our future,” she said. “If we don’t teach them and give them every facet of what it is to be an adult, I feel like it’s a disservice.”
After seeing the success of this year’s project, the club plans to release one new edition of the self-help book per year, targeting a different audience — parents/adults, younger kids, etc. — each time. Their initiatives are being supported by the Director of Student Services and other Ocean City High School administrators. Saul said that sharing information they can is the key to change.
“You can see the problems in the system when you hear the kids talk about mental health,” she said. “It’s a little bit hard to hear, and that’s part of the reason why we want to make a difference in education, because all change starts with education.”
Congratulations to OC Minds Matter on the release of their self-help booklet!🥳We appreciate all those in our network working to empower teens. Follow the club on Instagram @ocmindsmatter for updates!
Also, a special thank you for supporting Our Minds Matter goes to Imagine Learning Foundation, the J. Willard & Alice S. Marriott Foundation, Kettering Family Foundation, Rosendin Foundation, Van Metre Companies, Zephyr Impact, and our supporter community of mental health champions like you.😎