In 2014, over 17 million people participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It started with one person getting challenged to dump a bucket of water on their head in the name of ALS and quickly took off. People started nominating each other, and it was then spread throughout the country.
Now, 11 years later, this challenge has resurfaced, but for a whole new cause. University of South Carolina’s Mental Illness Needs Discussion (MIND) club formed a partnership with national nonprofit Active Minds. This group launched the USC Speak Your Mind Challenge to raise awareness for mental health and decrease the stigma that surrounds conversations about mental health.
Even though this started in South Carolina, just like the ALS challenge, the Speak Your Mind Challenge rapidly flew throughout the country and found its way to the students of Millard West.
“My friend Josh nominated me to do this, and immediately I was down to participate,” senior Ethan Cole said. “It was a good idea to raise awareness for mental health. Raising conversations about mental health and organizations like Active Mind.”
Friends started nominating friends, and as soon as you know it, it is the only thing you see on your social media. Everyone was participating, but it was important to make sure that people were understanding the true meaning of the challenge and not mistaking it for a trend.
“This is forcing people to reach out to others and create a tight-knit community with this challenge,” junior Stella Neal said. “I think it should be important to try to get everybody involved that you can, and nominate everyone you can possibly think of.”
Millions of people throughout the world deal with different types of psychological health, and sadly, there will rarely be a full cure for most of these diseases. The good thing is that even just having a small conversation about these topics can help find a better solution for these problems.
“Having people in my life who have mental health issues has made me care a lot about people’s well-being, and speak out more for them,” junior Addison Abboud said. “ Before this challenge, the topic of anxiety and depression was a big focus in my life. I think this is raising attention to a great thing right now, but we cannot stop here, and we need to keep this trending around the world to seek change.”
Even after you participate, you should still bring awareness to the huge stigma on mental health. You can donate towards the cause at https://support.activeminds.org/give to help the millions who struggle with different types of mental health issues every day.
