This post was submitted by Christine Moore and is part of our September Suicide Prevention Month series. I cannot believe it has been a whole year since we lost Jack. Jack was that kid that really seemed to have it all. He was handsome, athletic, smart, lived in a beautiful town with lots of friends…
Category: Prevention & Awareness
The Most Effective Suicide Prevention Strategy
Content Warning: This blog post discusses means of suicide within the context of means reduction as a suicide prevention strategy. September is Suicide Prevention Month, and we’ll talk a lot about why people struggle with suicidal ideation and decide to take their own lives. We’ll discuss the aftermath of those decisions, and the help-seeking strategies…
3 Common Misbeliefs About Suicide
Changing the conversation about mental health is hard! Your plans to hold a suicide prevention or mental health event on campus or at a workplace, for example, may be disturbing to some people or make them uncomfortable. No doubt about it, talking about mental illness and suicide can be difficult, but it’s also necessary to…
Send Silence Packing Fall 2017 Tour
The countdown begins! We’re officially one(ish) week away from kicking off the Fall 2017 tour of Send Silence Packing! Send Silence Packing displays over 1,000 donated backpacks, representing the number of college students lost to suicide each year. The program is designed to raise awareness about the incidence and impact of suicide, connect students to…
How to Manage Physical and Mental Illness at University
At around twelve years old, I was diagnosed with a chronic neurologic condition that causes severe pain and cognitive symptoms. This seems like a negative, but truthfully, having a diagnosis is a huge relief and I’m grateful. It took a lot of persistence and family support to find a physician who truly listened to what…
What We Would Have Told Maddy
One night, after a difficult first semester at the University of Pennsylvania, Madison Holleran sat down at her computer and researched a few clubs to get involved in at school. One of them was Active Minds. Sadly, Maddy never made it there. Just weeks into her second semester, Maddy died by suicide. In the recently…
Reasons I Speak
I have been involved with Active Minds in some capacity for the last 8+ years. First, as a chapter member, then a speaker, then an advisor, and finally a staff member. And although I have recently moved on from my staff role at Active Minds, I will continue to speak. Let me tell you why.
EXPECTO PATRONUM! A Spell or a mantra?
Ever since being introduced to the Harry Potter books in elementary school I’ve felt a strong connection to the magical world that has taken me beyond that which I sometimes feel with my real life acquaintances. Attending book and movie releases helped me have something to look forward to, the characters’ growth something to guide…