First National ‘Mental Health Action Day’ to Drive People to Take a First Mental Health Action for Themselves or Others

More than a year into COVID-19 and amidst a most dire mental health crisis, My Good Brain and more than 500 organizations team up to plan inaugural ‘Mental Health Action Day’ on May 20

My Good Brain today announces its participation in the first-ever Mental Health Action Day, to be held on Thursday, May 20 in partnership with more than 500 leading brands, nonprofits, government agencies and cultural leaders. Over the past two decades, suicide rates have risen, particularly among young adults. And the COVID pandemic has accelerated the already dire crisis, giving way to what many mental health professionals have called the “second pandemic.” 

Though more people than ever are comfortable discussing mental health, finding effective resources and knowing how to get help remains a challenge.  Mental Health Action Day is an open-source movement of brands, organizations and cultural leaders to drive culture from mental health awareness to mental health action.  Partners will encourage people to take mental health action -- whether for themselves, for their loved ones or to advocate for systemic changes. Resources and tools will be available for people to seek help in a myriad of ways from starting a meditation practice, learning how to support a friend, or advocating for change.

“We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right now to make people deeply understand the great impact that mental health has on our daily life and that it is just as important as our physical health,” said Dr. Danessa Mayo, CEO and Founder of My Good Brain. “This pandemic has forced us to reckon with the things in our lives that needed to be addressed, changed, or reconsidered. Now that people are more amendable to learning about mental health, we need to be able to share resources and education about what could be helpful to address these increasing mental health challenges, specifically for children and youth.”

Mental Health Action Day is being planned in partnership with TaskForce, a cultural organizing agency that builds capacity for those taking on the most pressing challenges facing our communities, our nation and our world.

This year, My Good Brain has planned several actionable items throughout the month of May.

• Week 1: Mental Health Matters (and so do you)

  • Daily affirmations for children throughout the week, available for download and use in the classroom/home.

• Week 2: Art & Play Therapy Ideas

  • Downloadable instructions for simple and fun art & play therapy activities that both children and kids at heart can engage in.

• Week 3: 5/20 Mental Health Action

  • Join us on 5/20 at 3pm PST as we host a one-hour Facebook live event. My Good Brain’s CEO and Founder Danessa will be sharing about her favorite mindfulness and art activity—painting!

• Week 4: #KidsAtHeart❤️ Challenge

  • During the whole month of May, we invite adults of all ages to create a social media post (photo/video) of them with the hashtag #kidsatheart❤️ doing their favorite art, play, or exercise activity that boosts their mental health.

Learn more about the weekly action items here:

Additional participants and more information about how each partner will activate on May 20 will be forthcoming. More on Mental Health Action Day and a current list of partners can be found at www.MentalHealthActionDay.org