Minding Your Mind

Minding Your Mind’s primary objective is to end the stigma and destructive behaviors often associated with mental health issues by providing evidence-based mental health education to students K-college and the adults in their lives. 

By increasing help-seeking behavior, Minding Your Mind moves away from crisis-based response to prevention through education.

There is a mental health crisis among adolescents in this country. Research from SAMHSA reveals that 1 in 3 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 experienced a mental, behavioral, or emotional health issue in the past year. USDHHS estimates 49.5% of adolescents has had a mental health disorder at some point in their lives. National Alliance on Mental Health reports that 50% of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, and 75% by age 24. 

In 2021, the serving U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health. Two years later, he called youth mental health "the defining public health issue of our time." This level of attention has helped to shift the national conversation and perceptions around youth mental health and put mental health education in the public eye.  

Stigma and shame are sometimes the greatest barriers to treatment. When mental health challenges are left unaddressed, there can be a lasting impact on youth, families, and communities:

    • Undiagnosed mental health issues are statistically significant among adolescents and teens that experience drug use or dependency.

    • Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 10-24.

    • Every 12 minutes someone in the U.S. dies by suicide.

    • Over 90% of those who die from suicide have a mental health condition.

    • 37% of students with a mental health issue, age 14 and older, drop out of school—the highest dropout rate of any disability group.

    • 70% of youth in state and local juvenile justice systems have a mental health issue.

Diverse and underserved communities face additional trauma that exists due to racism, poverty, and a high stigma surrounding mental health in some ethnic communities. Providing education and normalizing conversations starting at a young age, and coupling that with clinical presentations to parents and educators, can help to break these stigmas and reverse troubling statistics.

The majority of Minding Your Mind’s programs are provided on a donate-as-able basis to the schools or organizations requesting them. Each individual program costs Minding Your Mind approximately $500 plus overhead. While hosting groups are invited to make a donation to Minding Your Mind, we do not decline presentations due to an inability to pay. Because of this policy, most of Minding Your Mind’s financing is derived from fundraising events, personal donations, and charitable grants.

To show you the impact of our programs, here is a note one of our speakers received:    "Two and a half years ago, you came to speak at my high school and shared your story. At the time, I was a sophomore with no self- confidence, suffering from anxiety and suicidal thoughts. I had been afraid to tell anyone what I was really going through. When you came, however, and shared how you had struggled with anxiety from a young age, you struck a chord within me, and I decided I was going to reach out for help. I slowly told my parents and psychologist what was really going on inside, and I'm now in a much better, healthy place. I'm graduating in a month, and as I reflect on the best things my school did for me, the Minding Your Mind program is at the top. Without it, specifically without your talk, I don't know where I would be. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your story with us and let you know that, in a way, you saved my life. Thank you for motivating me to reach out and recognize that I have nothing to be ashamed of."

And we have hundreds more testimonials just like this one. Your donation can change, and save, lives. Thank you.