Active Minds is a student organization with the goal of bringing mental health awareness to Hofstra University’s campus.
Social Media Manager and Public Relations Chair Kaylee Desmarais, a sophomore psychology major with a women’s studies minor, joined the organization because she saw how powerful the club can be at destigmatizing talk around mental health. As a psychology major, she recognized how the group can help her flourish in her field by understanding the process of removing associations of shame or disgrace from a person, condition or group.
“As a member of Active Minds, I get to see the value in helping other students,” Desmarais said. “This is a good starting point for a career in psychology.”
Although there are many psychology students within the organization, anyone can join Active Minds as a member or just pop into an event. The club’s social media pages remain active by promoting upcoming events, sponsoring educational content and giving shoutouts to members.
Typically, events focus on relaxation and awareness.
The club’s highest attendance was during their Mocktail Making event for alcohol awareness month. They’ve hosted other tailored events like Color-Your-Stress-Away, March Meditation and Study Spots to keep students comfortable in the taxing college environment.
Although students can find Active Minds through their strong online presence, the club is also recognizable through their collaborations with other organizations, like Alpha Beta Theta, clay club, psychology club and many more.
“I typically make all the flyers and communicate with other clubs about advertising, just to try and get our word out there – get our message out there,” Desmarais said. “If you see a post about Active Minds, I usually make it. I also communicate with the [public relation] chairs of other organizations [who we work with] to make sure that we’re all on the same page and keep up expectations and make sure we’re meeting those expectations.”
Every event begins with the executive board introducing themselves so new members understand how each member contributes to the development of their organization. President Jay Tenreiro is a freshman human factors and usability studies major; Vice President Allison Doan is a senior psychology major; Treasurer Alex DeEmedio is a sophomore psychology and drama double major; Secretary Nicole Ottavio is a freshman psychology and drama double major. The entire executive board is equipped to direct students to any resources they may need in a position of mental crisis and works to make students feel comfortable with their organization.
The organization is currently in the process of increasing their recruitment. Seeing an average of 10 students per meeting, the group is trying to boost the number of students at each event. Their highest attended event, Mocktail Making, hosted 30 students.
“[Recruitment] is on the up-and-up,” Desmarais said. “We have an E-board meeting every week to discuss different recruitment tactics. We’ve been picking up on social media, and we’ve been tabling a lot.”
A big recruitment opportunity for the organization comes from tabling in the Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center. During Stress Less Week, from Monday, April 27, through Friday, May 1, Active Minds is tabling not only to provide stress-buster activities, but to also encourage students to join their small organization.
“Moving forward, we want to expand the variety of events we offer,” Desmarais said. “For next year, we’re looking at inviting a guest speaker and expanding our resources to national hotlines. Our biggest goal is still outreach but also to expand the events we have and expand our campus presence.”
