Since the launch of our Signature School-Wide Campaigns last school year, Our Minds Matter (OMM) has been excited to increase the mental health impact across our network. We understand that not every school will be able to start an OMM club right away, and not every student will attend an OMM club at their school. This can be for multiple reasons, such as a lack of time, capacity, or interest.

OMM has always encouraged our clubs to host school-wide campaigns to broaden their mental health impact outside of club meetings. And now, our Signature Schoolwide Campaigns build on this effort by:

• providing a supply kit with all the resources needed for a school to host the campaign, whether they have an OMM club or not
• uniting our network through time-bound initiatives that are focused on specific protective factors  
• offering schools without clubs another avenue to create mental health impact; and 
• collecting participant feedback to improve our resources and methods of support

We are proud to announce that from August to December 2025, Team OMM distributed 98 Because You Matter signature campaign boxes to schools across the DMV, reaching approximately 77,000 teens.🥳

The Because You Matter campaign is a bulletin board-focused project where participants write words of encouragement to themselves or others and display them for their school community to see. Doing so encourages participants to practice self-affirmations, a research-backed way to help improve self-esteem and to cultivate a culture of self-love and acceptance. Because You Matter campaign materials also include a mental health resource list to help reduce stigma around help-seeking behavior, a protective factor against teen suicide.

According to our campaign feedback poll, which received over 640 responses, 8 in 10 teens reported that the campaign inspired them to be kinder to themselves. For some students, this may have been one of the first times hearing about their school’s OMM club or trying self-affirmations! While writing a kind note likely only takes a few minutes, participants are able to carry this moment of inspiration into the future. Because many schools leave their affirmation boards up for weeks or months, the impact on teens is even more than we can measure.

Some schools also used Because You Matter as a recruitment effort for new club members. For instance, club sponsors at Hardy Middle School in Washington, D.C., hosted their Because You Matter campaign in late September, engaging over 170 students! Shortly afterward, they scheduled their first interest meeting to discuss a club meeting schedule and other potential ways to engage their larger community (read more here).

Moreover, many schools paired the Because You Matter campaign with another initiative to make it their own. For example, in November, Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, D.C., incorporated Because You Matter into a gratitude event during one of their lunch periods. In December, Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Maryland, handed out free hot chocolate to participants during their campaign, spreading warmth through kindness and a sweet treat.😉 Lastly, Katherine Johnson Middle School in Fairfax, Virginia, hosted the campaign during lunch periods the last week before their winter break to round out the first semester!

While Because You Matter launches in the fall, schools are encouraged to facilitate the campaign and display their notes year-round if they’d like. These words of affirmation can help remind individuals that they are not alone in their struggles and have a supportive community to turn to.  

Here were just a few of the Because You Matter notes that decorated school buildings across the OMM Network:

• “Push through. You’re needed more than you know.”
• “You make a difference to the people around you.”
• “Grades aren’t everything.”
• “I am independent. I am strong. I am wise.”
• “You are perfect just the way you are.”
• “You are worthy of love and abundance in your life.”
• “Don’t give up on what you’ve got going. You’ve come too far.”

Because You Matter continues to show how small acts can inspire personal moments of reflection, peer-to-peer collaboration, and larger shifts in school mental health culture. Team OMM extends our sincerest gratitude and congratulations to all those who participated in the Because You Matter campaign this school year! We appreciate your efforts and commitment, and thank you for being in this movement with us.💙

Another special thank you for supporting Our Minds Matter goes to The J. Willard & Alice S. Marriott Foundation; Kettering Family Foundation; The MATTIE Fund; Rosendin Foundation; Van Metre Companies; and our supporter community of mental health champions like you. 

We look forward to furthering our impact with you this spring with our We Belong Week Campaign!🌷