May 2022 Recap
What a whirlwind of a month May has been! This year for Mental Health Awareness month, My Good Brain was able to feature both virtual and in-person events like never before. And it’s all thanks to our amazing team of volunteers who helped make it happen.
Mental Health Action Day 2022
We partnered with MTV Entertainment Group and Task Force for the second year in a row, along with 1400 other organizations all over the world for Mental Health Action Day. This year, we focused on driving more interactions with children and teens, both on and offline. Our Stories of Resilience video campaign for Mental Health Action Day was a special project that we put together in an effort to address teen mental health and promote help-seeking.
My Good Brain Presents: Mental Health Action Day Stories of Resilience
We learned valuable lessons from the Stories of Resilience campaign, one that I think we sometimes take for granted given the amount of time folks spend on social media platforms nowadays. We were reminded that despite the overt amount of “sharing” about self-care mantras, self-help advice, flashy posts about self-affirmations, going to therapy, etc., it is still quite a challenge for most individuals to share about their own experiences with mental health and resilience. According to a 2021 survey conducted by NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness), 52% of respondents say they have been more open with others about their mental health since the pandemic started. While this appears promising, the reality is that we still have a long way to go in our plight to combat stigma towards everyday mental health conversations.
MHAD Fundraiser
Our May fundraiser has been a solid success! Not only have we passed our previous Giving Tuesday fundraising goal amount ($500), we are on our way to meeting our $2000 Mental Health Action Day fundraising goal! Individuals all over the US have taken part in our fundraising efforts, and we are so humbled by their generosity and kindness.
We are also excited to share that My Good Brain was recently awarded a $1000 Monumental Grant from the team at Luma Legacy for our new Teen Creative Arts program! This grant will help us kickstart the Teen Creative Arts group to gain access to local teaching artists in the San Francisco Bay Area, host art workshops, and possibly an in-person art exhibition in the near future. We can’t wait to share what incredible opportunities this opens up for our new online social group for teens!
Even though Mental Health Action Day is over, taking action to destigmatize mental health topics and promoting children’s mental wellness should be a daily part of our lives. It’s not too late for you to show your support!