Our Minds Matter was recently honored with the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APA Foundation) Award for Advancing Minority Mental Health. This recognition reflects the incredible impact of our school-based clubs, particularly in communities where access to mental health resources is often limited. The APA Foundation presented the award to Our Minds Matter alongside the Knights […]
Our Minds Matter attended the Congressional briefing “What do young people need from their communities to support their mental health?” hosted by Crisis Text Line and Mental Health Liaison Group in conjunction with the Senate bipartisan Mental Health Caucus on Thursday, March 14th. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), members of […]
Yorktown Swim & Dive Team Thousands of teens participate in Our Minds Matter clubs every year. However, we find that in traditional club settings, cisgender boys are often underrepresented in participation, even though they are a high-risk group. We developed the Athletes’ Minds Matter program to reach a wider audience. By reaching teens where their […]
Wednesday, February 21, 2024 · 7pm @ Arlington Drafthouse We are excited to announce that Our Minds Matter will be hosting our first-ever stand-up comedy show on February 21 at the Arlington Drafthouse, a historic 1930s art deco style theater serving a full dinner menu (and full-service bar, of course)! This incredible show will […]
The High Point Hippos Swim Team hosted its annual Swim-for-a-Cause fundraiser on July 6, 2023 to benefit Our Minds Matter. OMM works in many of the schools where Hippos attend, including Meridian, McLean, Marshall, and Madison, and many others. This event provides swimmers with the opportunity to develop team spirit and camaraderie and work together […]
We are so grateful for everyone who made it out to the Our Minds Matter Benefit Concert for Youth Mental Health on June 17, 2023. With over three hundred people in attendance, and $14,250 raised for OMM, the concert was a huge success! Hosted at The Cutting Room in New York City, the concert featured […]
Colonel Minds Matter from Magruder High School in Derwood, MD developed the Resource Scavenger Hunt activity into a week-long school-wide campaign. As the club was drumming up some ideas to get the student body more involved with Colonel Minds Matter (CMM), a student leader suggested a scavenger hunt since they enjoyed doing them when they […]
Thursday, May 19th, 2022 is the second annual Mental Health Action Day. While promoting mental health awareness and acceptance is necessary, chipping away at the stigma around mental health requires action. Mental health action looks different for everyone and individual action is just as important as collective, societal action. Watch the how clubs in the […]
At the end of January, Abington Senior High School’s Our Minds Matter club hosted an art focused meeting to help students relieve some stress during mid-term exams. The meeting started off with club officers sharing strategies to cope with stress. Then, club members were able to visit three different stations: painting with watercolors, zentangle art, […]
Brookwood Minds Matter, from Snellville, GA, is well on their way to selecting their club leadership for the 2022 – 2023 school year. Brookwood started off by identifying leadership positions that would be open next school year based on which leaders were graduating seniors. Then, they created a leadership application Google Form with a list […]
Blooming Roses from Roosevelt High School in Washington, DC, a new club within the DCPS Youth Mental Health Program, hosted a three-day Self-Care Fun Fair around Valentine’s Day. Blooming Roses choose to kick off their first school-wide campaign by spreading the love around campus! Throughout the week students enjoyed various mindfulness workshops that taught wellness […]
Falcons Minds Matter from Poolesville High School in Maryland has been spreading kindness in creative ways. In January, the club teamed up with their counseling department to put on a Wellness Wednesday initiative with the theme of kindness towards self and others. [image description: students in a classroom wearing different colored shirts saying “♡ be […]
[image description: group picture of training participations & OMM staff smiling on Zoom (in gallery view)] On Sunday afternoon, January 30th, 2022, 78 student leaders from 54 schools within the Our Minds Matter club network joined our Mid-Year Leadership Training. With a tumultuous start to the new year due to surges in COVID-19 cases across […]
Happy black history month In celebration of Black History Month, Our Minds Matter is bringing awareness to Black youth mental health through our second annual Black Youth Minds Matter campaign. This month, we will be hosting a series of special events, sharing resources that support Black youth, and highlighting mental health professionals that are changemakers […]
“A not so silent night” proved to be just that: we shined a light on mental health! On Thursday, December 9th in downtown D.C., OMM hosted a meaningful event filled with powerful stories on mental health from our community. Thank you to the students, school staff, family, and community members, especially from our three major […]
On November 30th, 2021, Milton Minds Matter (MMM) kicked off their first club meeting with a journaling session. Club members thought that journaling would be a great way to practice creativity and self-reflection. It’s also a great way to support a peer. Milton’s Co-President Annette Swenson, shared a testimonial of the joy students experienced while […]
Join us on Sunday, January 30th at 1 pm ET over Zoom to build your leadership skills. This hour-long training will provide student leaders with the opportunity to learn a new critical thinking skill and to reason through problem-solving with other fellow leaders. Please follow these instructions to register: Create a Zoom account if you […]
Frost Minds Matter, a middle school pilot program site in Fairfax, VA has ramped up their attitude of gratitude this season. First, Frost hosted a Gratitude Challenge. Students were given post-it notes to write down something they are grateful for. The post-its were then pasted onto a wall in the shape of a heart. Frost […]
Blake Minds Matter (BMM) from James Hubert Blake High School located in Silver Spring, Maryland, recently hosted a Wellness Week in collaboration with Blake Leaders Institute, a student organization that provides teens with leadership development opportunities and service projects. The purpose of the Wellness Week was to educate their school community about mental health and […]
In light of our Men’s Minds Matter campaign, we would like to recognize a current club at an all boys school on the West Coast. Cubs Minds Matter, from Loyola High School of Los Angeles, applied to start a club this past August. Here is a Q&A with some of the Cubs Minds Matter student […]
South River Minds Matter from Edgewater, MD, sprinkled their school with a little bit of positivity & motivation at a recent club meeting. Who doesn’t need a little inspiration during the school day? Club members and leaders created posters with various supportive, uplifting, and validating messages. Posters were hung up throughout the whole school so […]
A few weeks ago, Gahanna Minds Matter from Gahanna, Ohio, met up with their school’s fall sports teams. Club leaders attended various team practices to talk about their club’s work. In the image below, Gahanna student leaders are speaking with the Lincoln High School freshman, junior varsity, and varsity football teams to discuss why mental […]
It’s that time of year again! The school year is in full swing & many of our clubs have represented their Minds Matter club by hosting a booth at a club fair. A club fair is a great way to get the word out about your club and to recruit new members. We know that […]
On sequential weekends in September, Our Minds Matter hosted two in person student leadership training sessions for OMM clubs located in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. In total, thirty-two student leaders from twenty-one schools participated in these training sessions to build their leadership skills and their knowledge of how to lead OMM club meetings. After the […]
August 15 is National Relaxation Day. In 1985, nine-year-old Sean Moeller came up with the idea! National Relaxation day promotes stress relief through relaxation techniques like meditation and yoga. Our lives often get so busy that we forget to take time for ourselves and kick back and relax. It is incredibly important to make time […]
On Thursday, August 19th 2021 online @ 2pm ET, we will be hosting our first Quarterly Leadership training of the 2021 – 2022 school year. This training will equip new leaders with skills and knowledge to organize their clubs. We will also be taking this time to recognize once again a “new normal” of starting […]
Heath and Omar are so close to the end of their 4,300 mile biking cross country. If you would like to join them to their destination in Bethany Beach, DE, details are below. Thursday, July 1st 9:00am – depart Trek Georgetown, 3411 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007 – please join us so that we […]
June 27 is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Day. It’s important that we understand what PTSD is and how to support a loved one with PTSD. What is PTSD? PTSD is a mental health condition that can develop after someone experiences a traumatic event. Some symptoms might include intrusive and distressing memories, nightmares, and […]
Pride Month is upon us! Our Minds Matter will be bringing light to the contributions of queer folx over the course of history, to the issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, and to ways that we can all be better allies. Here are some findings from the Trevor Project’s National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health […]
Our Minds Matter created the Ommy Awards to recognize outstanding leaders, movers, and shakers within the OMM club network. Our work towards a future where no teen dies by suicide is made possible by the efforts of leaders in this movement. Special thanks to our sponsors for making this recognition possible. We received 44 unique […]
Several OMM clubs from Montgomery County Maryland, Colonel Minds Matter from Magruder High School, Rockville Minds Matter from Rockville High School, and RM Minds Matter from Richard Montgomery High School, teamed up to host a mental health question and answer panel. Prior to this panel, the clubs sent out marketing on their social media to […]