Active Minds, a New Mental Health Organization on Campus

Active Minds, a national mental health awareness organization, held its first meeting at Frostburg State University on Tuesday, March 14th. This organization’s board, including President Stella Beernick, Vice President Reagan Mangum, Secretary Avery Jacobs, Treasurer Sophia Maust, and Historian Meghan Farrar, is attempting to revive this organization after a several-year break at Frostburg.

Active Minds is a national nonprofit organization that was founded in 2000 at the University of Pennsylvania. The organization has over eight million participating students nationwide, and over six hundred campus chapters. They are, according to their website, “dedicated to promoting mental health, especially among young adults, via peer-to-peer dialogue and interaction.” Additionally, Frostburg’s branch aims to work to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health within our campus through events that support a positive mindset, promote open communication among peers, and increase awareness of mental health issues and suicide prevention.

President Stella Beernick had this to say about the importance of this organization, “I think college campuses, in general, are really high-stress environments, and it’s really good to have an organization, especially one run by students who are going to understand the experiences that people are going through more than professional organizations like CAPS, even though those organizations are great, who are going to be able to really plan and contribute things that will be beneficial to our students. Even if Frostburg isn’t necessarily the most ‘mentally ill’ campus out of anywhere, it’s important for everybody to have an outlet for increasing mental health awareness. It’s really good to have that present, as a resource for students.”

At Frostburg, Active Minds plans to get evolved in the community this semester. They plan to host VAR- validate, appreciate, refer, training to teach tools for listening to others and responding in a meaningful way. They also plan to participate in Be Well, Learn Well week by hosting an event to support students’ mental health and encourage better learning. Additionally, they hope to work with CAPS on an outreach event to teach an overview of mental health terms, symptoms, and treatments.

Prospective Active Minds members can get in contact with the organization by messaging @frostburgactiveminds on Instagram or emailing Historian Meghan Farrar at mlfarrar0@frostburg.edu.