Ending the Stigma: Amplifying Teen Voices in Mental Health
One in four people will be affected by a mental illness at some point of their lives, and an estimated three-quarters of mental health disorders start before the age of 24. Unfortunately, more than 50% of people living with a mental illness will not seek help because of stigma, keeping millions of people from leading full and successful lives.
Bring Change to Mind (BC2M) seeks to close this gap. Founded in 2010 by award-winning actress Glenn Close, BC2M has become the leading national voice working to demystify mental illness and normalize conversations about mental health. What started with a series of public service announcements has grown into a national movement of innovative approaches guided by science and evidence-based action to help everyone thrive in a stigma-free world.
Annie Cole
“Bring Change to Mind is changing the conversation by helping people create an open dialogue about mental illness,” said Annie Cole, BC2M Youth Leadership and Resilience Manager. “Our role is to give a voice to others so their experiences and stories can help transform feelings of isolation and despair into feelings of community and hope.”
According to Cole, BC2M chose to focus its efforts on teens and young adults soon after its founding due, in part, to 50% of all lifetime mental illnesses beginning by age 14.
Evidence-Based High School Mental Health Program
BC2M’s High School Program is a free, student-led, evidence-based club program currently serving 540 public, private and charter schools across 43 states and working with over 14,000 student members.
BC2M clubs operate like other campus clubs. They conduct regular meetings and activities, and they receive direct support from BC2M staff, along with:
- An annual $500 grant for club activities
- Access to a Club Portal, which contains event ideas, educational presentations, and a club guidebook
- An invitation to BC2M’s annual High School Summit, where hundreds of members come together with mental health experts, celebrities, and youth leaders for a day of learning, inspiration and connection
- Free annual Headspace meditation app subscriptions
- Leadership development
- Training opportunities
- Promotional club kit
According to Cole, the program’s success is due much in part to the students’ agency to utilize the resources provided and tailor it to fit the needs of their community.
“Today’s youth are more comfortable talking about mental health than they have ever been,” she said. “While they certainly look up to adults as role models, they tend to face less stigma from their friends and people their own age, which prompts them to seek support and be more open in their dialogue. They learn that it’s OK to talk about things like self-care, for example.”
BC2M’s High School Program has seen measurable impacts, creating positive shifts in campus culture and enabling help-seeking behavior for students across the country since 2015:
- 79% of students talk more about mental health because of BC2M.
- 75% of members said that participation in BC2M helped them take better care of their mental health.
- 86% of members say that empathy and understanding increased among their student body because of the club.
In the words of one BC2M club member who had previously struggled with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, “As much as people say, ‘You’re not alone,’ people just don’t really hear it. I didn’t start hearing it until I joined the club.”
“Peer-to-peer outreach and connections are just the starting point,” Cole added, noting that the earlier young people receive treatment for a mental illness, the more effective it can be. “Our program is designed to also develop teens’ resiliency so they can create healthy coping strategies for the challenges of everyday life and bounce back from traumas.”
The program also helps members educate teens about accessible mental health resources: 95% of club members know where to find mental health resources because of their BC2M club.
Some Teens Face Mental Health Inequities
According to BC2M, although mental illness appears across demographics, the impacts of mental illness on ethnic and racial minorities can be longer-lasting.
As part of its equity-focused lens, BC2M prioritizes supporting Title 1 schools and communities of lower socioeconomic status and high racial diversity. Just under 50% of BC2M club members identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color), and just over 52% of members are economically disadvantaged.
“Communities of color face cultural stigmas around mental health,” Cole said. “We’ve noticed through our student data, BIPOC youth are often encouraged – like their parents before them – to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and bury their feelings.”
Over 19% of clubs are in rural settings, where access to mental health resources is scarce, leading to long wait times and travel times for diagnosis and treatment, even when students are in crisis.
“In rural areas, schools can be on the smaller side, but the communities themselves are geographically spread out,” Cole said. “Schools therefore become the primary safe space for students to have conversations around mental health. Unfortunately, we’ve seen small groups of adults – even just one very vocal parent – create the kind of push-back that gets these safe spaces shut down. It can communicate to kids that adults don’t care about their challenges.”
BC2M quantifies the percentage of its members who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community to ensure content and highlighted resources reflect the interests and background of members.
“LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience mental health challenges,” Cole said. “Through conversations I’ve had with some of BC2M’s LGBTQ+ youth, they’re at an age where they still live with their parents and can’t vote, and they feel their ability to make a difference on a large scale is limited. In some communities we partner with in Indiana, simply sharing their gender identity with teachers or school counselors requires parental notification. BC2M’s High School program gives them a place to cultivate allies, have their voices be heard, and feel safe doing so.”
Additional Mental Health Programs and Resources from BC2M
BC2M has reached more than 2 billion people through its advocacy efforts and served more than 100,000 students across the United States since its inception in 2015. In addition to its High School program, BC2M has piloted and launched a similar Middle School program to educate and empower younger teenagers. It also established a Pathways program for high school and alumni students seeking mental health careers.
The BC2M website is a rich source of information for teens and young adults, offering:
- Educational information to help them understand types of mental illnesses
- Tips for choosing your words wisely when discussing mental illness
- A Talk Tool that generates conversation starters for bringing up mental health concerns with others
- A password-protected club portal with resources specific to the clubs served.
“We continue to identify unique needs within individual schools while also looking at what’s impacting mental health within the larger community beyond our club model to continue to evolve and meet the needs of schools and youth across the country,” Cole concluded.
***Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know needs immediate help, please call 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.***
