Active Minds at USI

happy world mental health day! 🧠💜 remember to be kind to your mind today (and every day)! 🫶 let us know in the comments your favorite ways to nurture your mental health! 😇🌸

yesterday, active minds at usi took a walk around campus as a reminder that when it comes to mental health struggles, no one walks alone. thank you so much to everyone who came out in support of su***de prevention month. 💙💜

if you’d like to get involved with our organization, come to our general meeting tomorrow at 5 in the basement of library, classroom tbd. we’d love to have you and hear your ideas for how we can bring mental health awareness to our campus. 🫶

❕THIS WEEKEND❕
If you or someone you know has lost someone to su***de, come walk with us.
Come walk with us even if you just support the cause.
Come walk with us even if you just planned to take a walk!
If you would like to honor someone and have their photo included in the pre-walk slideshow, please send to [email protected].
Everyone is welcome to join us. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided. We’ll see you this Sunday for the National Su***de Prevention Memory Walk! 💜🫶🧠

save the date for our annual National Su***de Prevention Month Memory Walk! (details below) 💜🩵🎗️

Happy labor day, screagles! 🦅❤️

We’re so excited to announce our first event of the fall semester, Vision Boards! All you need to do is head to UC room 2219-2220, bring a pair of scissors (& a friend 😉), and we’ll provide the rest! We can’t wait to see you on September 6th! 🫂🧠

Instead of...
Sometimes people would like to hear something different. We have some recommendations.
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Write them down in the comments section!!
Let's avoid that TOXIC POSITIVITY 🙂🚫

Join us for our March meeting this Wednesday 3/3 at 4:30 pm. You have the option to join in person or on zoom and we welcome you either way! If you opt to come in person, please be masked up though. We will take a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting to update about events and then we will do a mental health kahoot! Whoever wins will receive an Active Minds swag item. We hope to see you there!

In 2017, su***de was the second leading cause of death for African Americans ages 15 to 24.

Throughout Black History Month, Active Minds At USI wants to highlight black pioneers for mental health, starting with Bebe Moore Campbell. Bebe Moore Campbell was an American author, teacher, and mental health advocate who worked tirelessly to shed light on the mental health needs of the Black community and other underrepresented communities. She founded NAMI-Inglewood in a predominantly Black neighborhood to create a space that was safe for Black people to talk about mental health advocates.

Please join us for our first meeting of the semester this Wednesday! The zoom meeting link will be posted in our bio for your convenience.

Also don’t forget this is the last week of our Self-Care Challenge with the REC! Today’s challenge is to write down 5 of your proudest moments. You can also join us for an Instagram live on the 3rd at @/activeminds_usi!

We hope your spring semester is off to a great start!

1. “Soak up the views. Take in the bad weather and the good weather. You are not the storm.” Matt Haig

Author Matt Haig – who lives with depression and has written widely on it – cleverly compares the ever-changing weather to our mental health. Haig himself came close to su***de aged 24 while living in Ibiza, so this su***de prevention quote is particularly poignant. What Haig is saying is that although depression comes and goes, it is not who we are and should not define us. In his best-selling book, Reasons to Stay Alive, he writes: “Understand, for instance, that having a sad thought, even having a continual succession of sad thoughts, is not the same as being a sad person.” His inspirational quote suggests that we should be mindful of our depressive thoughts and recognize that they can – and will – pass.

Hey friends join this challenge and improve your overall well being ! Self care matters and is very much needed 😌😌

We are kicking off our Spring semester by partnering with the REC to bring you all a wellness challenge!! It begins TODAY!! To join you can register with this link below 👏🏼

https://usi.edu/rfw/wellness/about-us/

We are kicking off our Spring semester by partnering with the REC to bring you all a wellness challenge!! It begins TODAY!! To join you can register with this link below 👏🏼

https://usi.edu/rfw/wellness/about-us/

UPDATE ON TONIGHT’S MEETING:

We had an oopsie with the zoom link, so here is the new one. We hope to see you all at 6!

Topic: Active Minds at USI Meeting
Time: Dec 2, 2020 06:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://usi.zoom.us/j/2862413112?pwd=ZjVzYysraSthZm1HU29hdlROVGtkUT09

Meeting ID: 286 241 3112
Passcode: 252731

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...

Hello everyone!! Good luck on finals hang in there !!

Hello everyone !! I hope everyone is doing well and was able to recharge over break!! Hang in there we are almost done !! Last meeting of the semester is tomorrow at 6pm join us if you are free!!

Hey everyone, we hope you had an amazing break! We are announcing our final meeting of this semester for this Wednesday at 6:00 PM via zoom. The meeting ID and passcode can be found in the poster. We hope to see you all there! Feel free to message us with any questions

Don’t forget to join our email list or GroupMe chat. To join, make sure you join us on EagleSync and message us for details. Let’s chug through these last 2 weeks!!! ✏️

Hey everyone, we hope you had an amazing break! We are announcing our final meeting of this semester for this Wednesday at 6:00 PM via zoom. The meeting ID and passcode can be found in the poster. We hope to see you all there! Feel free to message us with any questions

Don’t forget to join our email list or GroupMe chat. To join, make sure you join us on EagleSync and message us for details. Let’s chug through these last 2 weeks!!! ✏️

Hi everyone! While we are still on break, we wanted to touch base on our new position opening. We are looking for a second social media manager who will assist with making posts about meetings and other events, about 1-2 posts a week. if you are interested in conducting a small interview, please direct message us or email our President at [email protected] ! We look forward to adding more people to our team!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 🦃

We are working toward a new goal to have mental health included in the first year experience and we need to evaluate student support for the idea.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7uIe0au95xdZniCjTHkIcHXW-RlyYUwgwBY8fqXaoFCAFzw/viewform

Does Mental Health Belong in FYE? Active Minds at USI is working toward making that happen. Do you agree? Do you wish you'd had those resources in your UNIV course? Let us know! The more support we have, the bigger our chances of making this happen become!!

Meeting reminder! ⏰

Join us today at 6 PM in UC2217. If you would prefer to zoom or can’t make it in person, feel free to DM us or email [email protected] for the zoom link. Remember that masks are required for all in person meetings.

Hope to see you there!

Hey y’all! We’re announcing our second meeting coming up this Wednesday! We’ll send out more reminders on our Instagram page and through our email. To join our email list and get group reminders, just DM us your email and we’ll get you added. Have a great weekend everyone 💙

••••

Instagram: @/activeminds_usi

I hope everyone had a great week as we are waiting for results for the elections!!! It is really imporant to take care of yourself during this uncertain time we are in !!

“The advice I’d give to somebody that’s silently struggling is, you don’t have to live that way. You don’t have to struggle in silence. You can be un-silent. You can live well with a mental health condition, as long as you open up to somebody about it, because it’s really important you share your experience with people so that you can get the help that you need.” — Demi Lovato

Today is our last day for spirit week !! Happy Friday hope everyone enjoyed and took the opportunity to be apart of something positive to bring awareness to mental health !! Today challenge focuses on community. The challenge encourage you to reach out to someone that has been there for you and let them know you appreciate all that they've done for you.

As a reminder we will have our first call out meeting tonight via zoom at 6:30. I will attach the details for the meeting. Invite a friend or two!! I hope everyone week has went well and hopefully I will see many of your faces tonight !!
Share your challenges

Don’t forget about our first call out meeting via zoom tomorrow!!

For the fourth day of our spirit week, our focus is connection. We challenge you to send the Here for You icon to three friends to let them know you are there for them and would like to talk about where their mental health is. The words “I’m Here For You” can mean so much to someone who’s having a hard time. Post the icon to your social feed or story and share why mental health is important to you.

“I am here for you”!!
It should be uttered more often and should not be reserved for when people need it.
There is nothing wrong with people sharing that message through mental health awareness campaigns. It is a campaign that shares the universal message that it is okay to ask for help and seek the help when needed.

Constant reassurance is key.
It’s not about bombarding the same message repeatedly. It is how you convey that you will be there for that person or persons around you. Telling people from time to time is the right thing to do.

Small gestures can have a big impact.
You can lend an ear or shoulder when they need it. There is no force involved but a statement that reassures that there are people ready to listen to their stress and problems that they are facing. Although, there is full reason for those months, days and weeks to exist. Mental health is detrimental upon society, we have lost many lives to mental health.

There is still stigma upon mental health and awareness is the right way to go, the battle hasn’t ended nor will it end soon.
Mental health is everyone’s battle. I hope everyone is doing well reading this.
Always know there is always at least one person to lend an ear to listen to your problems.

“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.” – Fred Rogers

Be encouraged and talk about it !! Someone will be happy to listen to you !!

Be sure to tag our page once the challenge is complete

For the third day of spirit week, our focus is advocacy. Advocacy for policies and initiatives in our USI community that ensure everyone has equal access to mental health resources, especially BIPOC students.

Through the Active Minds ‘Your Voice is Your Power’ campaign, we are calling all mental health advocates to help establish a campus culture in support of equal mental health opportunity.

We challenge you today to be that advocate. Spread your voice in the USI community by reaching out to a professor or advisor to discuss ways they can address mental health with students. Whether it be asking a professor to consider adding mental health resources to their syllabus, or asking advisors to remember to ask students how they are nurturing their mental health.

For more details on how you can be an advocate for mental health on campus, check out the link below, and don’t forget to contact us with any questions.

https://www.activeminds.org/your-voice-is-your-power/

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” 🌎

One way I practice self care is listening to gospel music to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts . Stay encouraged everyone !!

Many people don’t know exactly what self care is and the advantages it can have on your mental health take a look and be encouraged !!

Self-care is providing adequate attention to your own psychological and emotional wellbeing. While this may be a bit of a vague description (after all, what is “adequate attention?”), the truth is, self-care doesn’t look the same for any two people.

Because self-care is the practice of caring for your physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing, it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that it does, in fact, have an effect on your mental health.
Self-care relies on increased self-awareness, which can benefit people who are living with a mental illness. Practicing self-awareness can help you to recognize patterns in your emotions, including events or situations that can trigger worsened symptoms. It can also help you to recognize what activities or tasks are necessary of your wellbeing, soothe negative symptoms of a mental illness or stress, or simply bring you pleasure or relaxation.
That doesn’t mean that self-care is the cure for mental or physical illnesses. While self-care can help people with conditions like mental illnesses or chronic illnesses, it also has been found that many people fail to provide adequate self-care in the midst of a flare-up of symptoms.
Many people find it difficult to provide self-care when it is most needed, due to fatigue, feelings of hopelessness or guilt for indulging in something pleasurable, pain, limited mobility, and other factors. People are quick to parrot the benefits of self-care for depression, anxiety, and other mental or physical illnesses, but don’t recognize the amount of labor self-care can require, nor the struggles of people who are trying to provide self-care while also living with their symptoms.

Share the #1 way you practice self care and tag !!

Good Afternoon! 😊 Today kicks off our Active Minds spirit week, a nation-wide call to action to change the conversation about mental health.

Today is all about AWARENESS. Not everyone has a mental illness, but we all have mental health. In order to change the conversation around mental health, we first need to know what it is and how we can help someone who is struggling. Below we’ve highlighted some important statistics you might not have know about mental health:

💙 50% of people will experience a mental health condition in our lifetime

💚 Su***de is the # 2 leading cause of death among young adults

💙 1 in 5 adults have a diagnosable mental illness

💚 67% of people ages 18-24 ain’t seek treatment for their anxiety or depression

These statistics are why Active Minds has dedicated this week to supporting mental health for e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. We ask for you to join us in spreading awareness by completing the challenge. For today, the challenge is to share a way that mental health affects you. Whether it be dealing with a mental illness or even being stressed for finals week.

You can post your response to today’s challenge on Facebook by tagging our page “Active Minds at USI”, or on insta by tagging us at with the hashtag .

Let’s work together on changing the conversation about mental health! 🗣

Stress Less Week Begins Tomorrow!
We encourage you to take at least 10 minutes (hopefully longer) out of your day to engage in activities that reduce stress and increase joy. Don't forget to share with us on social media. If you're not on social media, please email your Stress Less photos to [email protected] for a chance to be featured in next month's newsletter. We are also hosting a graphics contest! You can earn free swag for submitting your best Stress Less week graphics. Details below!

I hope everyone is geared up for spirit week !! Make sure to tag us as you complete the challenges this week !

Hello Everyone ! Thank you for tuning in to our introductions last week! Get excited as we bring awareness to mental health and working to break the stigma to mental health ! We will have challenges each day throughout the week ! Look forward to that this week! I hope everyone had a great weekend !

Image: Pin on True quotes Found on Google from pinterest.co.uk

Finally we have our last member she is an executive board member.

AJ is a member of our executive board for Active Minds at USI. She is a freshman graduating in 2024 with a degree in Radiology and Imaging Sciences. AJ is a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha. As an avid coffee drinker, you can find her at Starbucks on campus. AJ joined Active Minds to help bring awareness to mental health issues.

Please stay tuned for our challenges this week focusing on bringing awareness to mental health !! Thank you everyone and take a look at our Active Mind Team 😬😬

Next up we have a member of our executive board !

Alfonso is a member of our executive board for Active Minds at USI. He is graduating in the spring of 2021 with a degree in geology. He loves talking rocks and minerals with anyone who asks and is building up a nice collection of them at home. He joined the Active Minds team for many of the reasons that the other officers did. He is also the president of the Student Veterans Association which will be helpful as we reach out to have those conversations about veterans mental health and su***de prevention. He is looking forward to helping end the stigma.

Stay tuned for our last introduction and also look out for our spirit week bringing awareness to mental health!

Next we have our social media manager !

Hello everyone my name is Ja’Wanda Breedlove. I am the social media manager for Active Minds at USI! I was born in Evansville ,IN and raised in Indianapolis, IN. I am expecting to graduate in 2022 with a major in social work and a concentration in psychology. On my free time I enjoy journaling, listening to gospel music, walking and talking to my family and friends. I decided to join active minds ,because I wanted to be apart of community where mental health was the focal point and to bring awareness to many mental health problems there are among college students and even beyond that. Also, I want people to feel comfortable with talking about mental health and I believe this will be a safe space to do so !

Stay tuned as we will introduce our final officers !

For our next officer introduction, say hello to our treasurer!!

Hey everyone! My name is Becca, and I’m from the small town of Linton, Indiana. I am the treasurer of Active Minds at USI! I’m a freshman this year, and I’m pursuing a degree in English with a minor in Journalism. A few fun facts about me are I was on the guard team in my high school, I graduated in 2018, and I love to write! The reason I wanted to become an officer of Active Minds is to be a part of an organization whose goal is to help others see that they are not alone in their mental health struggles, and to help students realize that it’s okay to talk about it! Mental health is one of the many things society still takes lightly and I want to be part of the generation that changes that.

Stay tuned for our final introductions this evening

Next up in officer introductions, our secretary!:

Hey guys! My name is Maddie and I am the secretary for Active Minds! I was born and raised in Evansville, IN, the home of USI. As a second year student, I am predicted to graduate in 2023 with a major of Biology and Pre-Medicine. Outside of schoolwork I enjoy exercising and spending time with my family and friends, along with tending to my pet guinea pigs. The reason I wanted to become an officer with Active Minds is to shed more light on su***de prevention and the stigma behind mental health for the USI community. By encouraging our members to speak up, we can change the conversation about mental health beyond the campus community.

Next up, our Vice President!

Will Phillips, a Spencer County IN. native, is majoring in psychology with minors in cognitive science and human resource management at USI. An involved second year student, he is set to graduate in the spring of 2022. Will is the Vice President of Active Minds at USI, and loves to support and motivate others. When hes not working or volunteering, Will likes to be with his friends, read, and walk around campus and motivate others. I’ve been surrounded by friends, family members and classmates who have struggled with their own mental health, including myself. I’ve naturally been drawn to help others, which led me to get a job at Deaconess Cross Pointe as a Mental Health Technician.

Stay tuned for more officer introductions tomorrow!

Hey everyone!! For the next couple of days we will be introducing all of our officers with a short bio on our Facebook and Instagram pages! We are excited to get to know you all💜

Each officer has been asked to provide their position, major/minor if applicable, expected graduation year, a fun fact, and why they decided to join active minds

First up:

Brianna, President
Elementary Education major , minors in reading and science
Graduating 2023
Fun fact: I am a true crime ju**ie.
My why: I started this organization because I feel like college students mental health is often overlooked and we are pressured to work work work and no one stops us to ask if we?re okay. I want people to feel comfortable talking about where their mental health is.

Stay tuned for more intros from our Vice President,secretary and more !!