From organizing the annual “Stress Less, Laugh More” week to planting care baskets in each classroom and posting mental-health resources along school walls, the Bring Change to Mind club aims to make mental health a more normalized and open topic at SHS. Bring Change to Mind has been active at SHS for the past two years and is one of seven schools in Massachusetts that have adopted the program.
The Bring Change to Mind (BC2M) organization, which was founded by Academy Award-winning actress Glenn Close in 2009, believes that we “exist on a mental health spectrum” and that every human being “deserves acceptance, dignity, and support to live our best lives.” The organization encourages students to bring love and support toward those struggling at their school through these six values: “Start the Conversation, Amplify Voices, Be an Ally, Empower the Future, Support Science. Fight for Human Rights.” Nevertheless, Scituate High BC2M members are pushing toward ending this stigma through their commitment to hosting school-wide events and starting conversations surrounding mental health.
Club members are given access to a Club Portal, which holds a variety of useful resources for students: maintaining your mental health senior year, crisis resources, a free subscription to the Headspace meditation app, and much more. The BC2M organization awards high school clubs a yearly grant of $500 to host club-led events and activities for their school. In December, the BC2M club hosted a movie night showing Perks of Being a Wallflower. The SHS BC2M president, Lauren Mann, stated that she appreciated “being able to watch a more mature, vulnerable movie with your peers and having a discussion afterward.” The night was full of laughs, hugs, and rewarding discussions–with more movie nights to come in the future.
Bring Change to Mind club meets every Friday during WINN block in Julie Hickey’s art classroom (#131). During these meetings, members create a space to talk to fellow peers about their well-being, enjoy upbeat music, access coloring pages & art supplies, and plan club events. Mann stated she joined the club because she “loved the idea of having a ‘safe space’ at the high school, where you wouldn’t be judged for how you feel.”
As the faculty club advisor, Hickey commented, “All the things that we’ve done have all the right intentions in it. We come together as real, caring humans and acknowledging that mental health is something that impacts all of us, and the stigma around it is a waste of all of our time.” Not only does BC2M want to end the stigma around mental health, but the organization also wants to promote empathy around the topic.
In addition, BC2M hosts feel-good events on the last Friday of the month, such as pillow decorating or community-building activities. Hickey noted that during these events, “we bring people together to have an experience, to stand up and acknowledge mental health. This is a reality, and we care about it.” Through these meetings, the club creates a “close-knit community” and “safe space” for anyone at SHS to join.
This month, BC2M is hosting a New Year’s Party on January 26th in room 131, where they will send off affirmations for the new year and decorate cookies–anyone is free to join and bring positive energy toward their new year!