Photo: Active Minds Stress-Less Week © Andre Mags Photography
September brings new classrooms, new schedules, unfamiliar faces, and the promise of a fresh start. But for many young people, back-to-school season can also bring something less visible: the worry of finding where they belong.
Who will I sit with? Will I make friends? Is everyone else handling this better than I am?
Those questions may seem ordinary, but connection can have a profound impact on a young person’s well-being. Feeling known, welcomed, and supported by peers and school communities serves as an important protective factor against depression, anxiety, isolation, and suicidal thoughts.
That need for connection feels especially important in September. As school begins, Suicide Prevention Month offers a timely reminder that prevention can begin long before moments of crisis, in the everyday connections that help youth and young adults feel seen, supported, and less alone.
A Movement Born From Love
Active Minds’ commitment to connection is deeply personal.
Founder and Executive Director Alison Malmon established the organization as a college student after losing her older brother and only sibling, Brian, to suicide in 2000.
Brian was smart, funny, and well-liked. During college, however, he began experiencing depression and psychosis. For years, he concealed what he was going through from the people around him. Even as his mental health deteriorated, the stigma and isolation surrounding mental illness made it difficult to speak openly.
“After my brother’s death, and knowing how preventable it was, I resolved, no matter what, to do something to change the way we approach mental health in this country,” she said.
As a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Alison created a space where students could speak openly about mental health and encourage one another to seek support without shame. The idea soon grew beyond Penn. As more students recognized the need for these conversations on their own campuses, the youth-led effort evolved into Active Minds, now the largest nonprofit in the United States mobilizing youth and young adults to change how we think about, talk about, and support mental health in our society.
Students Leading the Change
Rather than treating youth and young adults as only recipients of mental health services, Active Minds equips them to shape the communities, conversations, and systems that affect their lives. Today, students lead more than 500 Active Minds Chapters in high schools and colleges across the country. Through discussions, peer education, wellness events, advocacy campaigns, and other activities, they make mental health part of everyday school life. In 2025 alone, chapters held more than 8,000 activities, directly reaching more than 411,000 youth and young adults.
The impact is personal, too. A student who attends an event may hear someone describe an experience that sounds like their own. A classmate may learn how to recognize when a friend is having a difficult time. Someone who believed they were the only person struggling may realize they are not alone.
That peer-to-peer support is also at the heart of Active Minds’ initiative called A.S.K.
A.S.K. stands for Acknowledge, Support, Keep-in-Touch, giving young people an approachable framework for being there for someone they care about. Nearly 70 percent of young people surveyed said they did not believe they had the knowledge to help a friend. After engaging with A.S.K., nine out of 10 participants reported feeling confident that they could provide emotional support to a friend.
One young participant captured why those skills matter: “I spent a lot of time thinking that people never cared, but never considered that they just didn’t know how to ask if I was OK.”
The quote captures a simple truth: caring and knowing how to show that care are not always the same thing. A.S.K. helps young people bridge that gap.
Making Support Possible in Every Community
Building a culture of connection requires more than willingness. For many schools and youth-serving organizations, limited funding can place meaningful mental health programming out of reach. The Active Minds Program Fund helps communities access free programs that can change how they talk about mental health through programs like Active Minds Speakers and Live A.S.K. Workshops, as well as Send Silence Packing®, an interactive exhibit that teaches students and communities how to take action for mental health. The Fund is designed to expand access for K-12 schools, colleges, rural communities, communities of color, and youth-serving organizations where limited budgets can stand between students and potentially transformative programming.
For Emily, a high school counselor in Ohio, that support changed what was possible.
Facing district-wide budget cuts, she was searching for new resources for the young people she served and had even considered paying for programming herself. Through the Program Fund, her school was able to host an Active Minds Speaker.
What followed was exactly the kind of cultural shift these programs are intended to spark. Emily reported more students requesting services, more conversations with trusted adults, and parents reaching out to thank the school for helping their children feel more comfortable asking for help when they needed it.
You May Also Like – Art Therapy Offers Relief to Afghan Women Struggling with Mental Health
500+ Active Minds Chapters are creating change in high schools and colleges nationwide.
411,700 youth and young adults reached through chapter-led programs, meetings, and events in 2025.
4.5 MILLION+ youth and young adults impacted across school communities where Active Minds Chapters are present.
9 in 10 A.S.K. participants reported feeling confident they could provide emotional support to a friend.
72% of organizations surveyed said limited funding prevented them from accessing mental health resources.
When Students Feel Seen, Change Follows
Research highlighted in Active Minds’ 2025 Impact Report reinforces the importance of the environments students encounter every day. A RAND Corporation study across six campuses found that students with more positive perceptions of their campus mental health climate reported lower psychological distress and stronger intentions to seek help from friends, family, and professionals.
The finding reinforces a principle central to Active Minds’ work for more than two decades: culture matters.
Beyond the Report Card
A new school year is measured in many ways.
Grades matter. Attendance matters. Achievement matters.
But so does belonging.
Every conversation, invitation, and act of support can help create a community where young people feel seen, supported, and connected. More than two decades after Alison Malmon transformed the loss of her brother into action, young people across the country are continuing that work by building cultures of connection and changing how mental health is understood, discussed, and supported.
Because connection can change everything.
To find or start an Active Minds Chapter, bring mental health programming to your school, or apply for the Active Minds Program Fund, visit ActiveMinds.org
Get your free copy of Global Heroes, jam-packed with positive news, straight in your inbox.
Active Minds is the largest nonprofit in the United States mobilizing youth and young adults to transform mental health norms across society. Together, we are building a diverse movement of champions.