On November 2, the Active Minds club hosted ASKtivation, a bracelet-making night to raise awareness about the club’s new national initiative, ASK. This stands for “Acknowledge, Support, Keep in Touch,” the three key steps that Active Minds encourages students to keep in mind when checking in with the mental health of their friends. Bracelet-making was the club’s way of spreading the meaning and importance of ASK.
Launched earlier this year, ASK is an initiative started by the national Active Minds committee to further the former initiative of Validate, Appreciate, Refer (VAR). This was a similar campaign with similar goals, and has been revamped for the new initiative. Active Minds has partnered with MTV for ASK, and even got the opportunity to launch the initiative at the Video Music Awards ceremony in September. Both VAR and ASK are tools for anyone to approach a friend, family member, or even complete stranger that may be struggling with their mental health. Active Minds stresses that the form of communication does not matter — the important part is that communication is established and carried out in an effective way. Whether someone is actively going through a mental health crisis or not, Active Minds describes VAR and ASK as great ways to check on someone in any situation.
The ASKtivation event itself began with a short presentation from club president, Celia Mauri, outlining each of the three pillars of ASK. Mauri explained that “Acknowledge” refers to validating a person’s feelings and experiences while recognizing the courage it took to open up about their situation. “Support” emphasizes the importance of showing up for them and asking how you can help. Offering options and resources that may help cope with and confront those feelings helps the person see a path forward through their tough times. “Keep in Touch” means that checking in regularly, no matter how small the interaction may be, shows that you care about and heard them when they opened up to you. These three key factors add up to a great way to truly help someone that is going through a difficult time.
Attendees of the event made friendship bracelets out of colored beads and letters that showcased their interests and personalities. There were also snacks and drinks to help create a friendly atmosphere throughout the event. The Active Minds club supplied some premade bracelets with key phrases relating to ASK, along with several other items such as stickers and pins to give the attendees a physical reminder of the event and the lessons learned there. Further, there was a display for attendees to take a picture with at the event.
The Stevens chapter of Active Minds was one of the first chapters to hold an event during the national ASK initiative, showing how quickly this club has grown since it was reactivated this past academic year after nearly three years of being listed as inactive. Mauri is proud of the club’s progress so far, and hopes that it continues throughout the year and beyond. In order to get involved, check out Active Minds on DuckLink and on their Instagram, @sit_activeminds.
