Our 16, 50-minute interactive sessions are designed to increase SEL skills AND mental health literacy. Our foundations in the Positive Youth Development (PYD) and the CASEL Framework focus on helping youth relate better to self and others by building critical inter and intrapersonal skills.
Further guided by the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) standards as well as school mental health guidelines, We Are Active Minds Middle also provides youth with skill-building and opportunities for practical application that will help them increase their own mental health knowledge as well as aid them in helping peers and creating impact in their schools and communities.
As a youth mental health education and advocacy program, We Are Active Minds Middle aims to:
Explicitly elevate language and best practices to normalize mental health
Increase mental health literacy and knowledge
Encourage help-seeking behavior
Mobilize youth to become mental health advocates
The meeting of SEL and mental health literacy means, for example, that standard lessons such as "how to be a good friend" are amplified with conversations such as “recognizing when a friend is having more than a bad day and how to help” as well as understanding common signs for anxiety and depression in yourself and others. Many schools familiar with other popular programs, will note that the We Are Active Minds Middle curriculum adds mental health language and skill building activities that that aid in youths’ understanding of mental health and well-being, aligning with evidence based SEL frameworks.
Additionally, as a 20-year-old peer powered mental health advocacy organization, our peer-to-peer strategy for mobilization sets Active Minds apart. Since starting our work two decades ago in the college and university space, we are firm believers in youth voice and youth’s ability to mobilize for the mental health change they want to see in the world. Our programming for middle schoolers is no different. We Are is designed so that youth become practiced in co-leading conversations and activations that can change minds, communities, and policies. Our middle schoolers don’t just learn about mental health, they are given a safe space to practice becoming leaders.