Mental health matters to students at Haverford. Active Minds is a perfect example–because some of the most common and significant difficulties students face are related to their mental health, Active Minds knows it’s important that there are resources available.
“Active minds is a national nonprofit organization focused on mental health advocacy with various chapters on different college campuses,” said Ethan Ezray ‘23, one of this year’s Active Minds co-head.
In 2018, Active Minds co-founder Charlotte Scott ‘21 felt that there weren’t enough open conversations about mental health and wanted to do something about it.
“She happened to have read about the organization in passing and thought it would be a good thing to start at Haverford,” said Ezray, “So she did.”
Active Minds meetings range in structure; sometimes meetings are discussion-based, where the group talks about mental health-related issues like coping strategies and loneliness. At planning meetings, the group organizes big events like this semester’s story sharing event hosted on April 16 and the rock painting event hosted on March 27. Active Minds also hosts “chill meetings” to help with de-stressing.
“In the past we’ve done some game nights and movie showings,” said Ezray.
Active Minds is always accepting new members. “No need to stress about constantly coming,” said Nicole Li ‘24, another Active Minds co-head, “you can join whenever you want.” Plus, if students can’t make the meetings, Active Minds has a blog with a database of resources and posts by fellow students–more interactive features are coming soon.
“[The club is] important because it boosts the resources of CAPS and also shows that students care about the mental health of their peers,” said Natalie Masetti ‘23.
Because of restricted in-person activities, this year’s meetings occur on Zoom. (In the past they have been held in the DC basement as dinner meetings.) Meetings in spring 2021 are on Thursday nights at 8:30, and there are occasional game nights on Wednesdays.
For more information, you can visit Active Minds’ page on Haverford Engage, or follow them on Instagram @activemindshc for updates on events and resources.