Healthy Mind, Healthy Life: Supporting Mental Health America

Mind Over Matter is organizing this fundraiser to benefit Mental Health America.

Tax deductible

Hello, We Are Mind Over Matter.

We are a group of students at the University of North Texas, who are passionate about supporting mental health awareness, education, and access to care. We are working together to raise funds that support Mental Health America (MHA), a non-profit organization that leads the nation in the promotion of mental health, well-being, and condition prevention.

Why Does This Campaign Matter? Who Are We Helping?

Mental health affects everyone. With this campaign, we aim to reach teens and young adults (ages 13-34), those who are struggling with substance abuse, and individuals who have experienced trauma. People managing chronic illnesses or daily stress can oftentimes find themselves being more susceptible to mental health struggles, so we would like to connect with them as well. Not only are these communities' part of our target audience, but so are their friends and family. These individuals may not be suffering from any mental health issues themselves, but they can still be directly affected by it. They may also want to become more aware of their loved ones, so they are able to assist them and be the support that they need at any given time.

Source: https://mhanational.org/about-us/

About Mental Health America:

Mental Health America advocates for legislation and policy for mental health. Their work is driven by their commitment to promote mental health as a critical part of overall wellness including preventative services, intervention, integrated care, services, support and recovery. Since 1909, MHA has fought to improve the system for individuals who struggle with mental health problems. Read more about their mental health policies for 2025–2026 here.

In 2024, Mental Health America found that:

23% of adults experienced a mental illness in the past year. ~60 million Americans.

5% of Adults and 13% of Youth reported experiencing serious thoughts of suicide.

The highest number of deaths by suicide ever recorded in the U.S. was in 2022.

1 in 5 youth had at least one Major Depressive episode in the past year, and over ½ of them did not receive treatment. Nearly 3 million youth.

18% of adults in the U.S. had a substance use disorder in the past year. 77% of them did not receive treatment.

There are around 340 people for every 1 Mental Health Provider in the U.S.

(Source: https://mhanational.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-State-of-Mental-Health-in-America-Report.pdf)

During our campaign, we will aim to raise $1,000 for Mental Health America.

How Your Donation Helps:

$50 connects 40 people to free online mental health screening tools.

$100 helps MHA reach 2,000 people with public education tools.

$250 can help connect, screen and provide resources and referrals for 300 people.

$500 supports the professional growth of a nationally recognized youth mental health leader for 6 months.

$500 helps MHA advocate for improving access - fighting to ensure access to treatment, improving quality of treatment, reducing homelessness, incarceration, and discrimination.

$750 helps MHA get trained team members to outreach events to raise awareness about mental health conditions and provides screening for individuals.

$1000 supports the public education programs by helping Mental Health America develop free public education materials on mental health.

If we can reach our goal of $1,000, we can help thousands of people get access to public education tools, resources and screenings, or we could sponsor two youth mental health leaders for 6 months!

(Source: https://www.classy.org/campaign/fundraise-for-mental-health-america/c160106)

Our Personal Story:

This campaign is also personal to us. Many of our team members have shared that they have been affected by mental health struggles, whether directly or indirectly through their family and friends. One of our group members shared their personal story:

“Growing up my family like many others did not focus on mental health and there was very little information or education on it. There were not any talks about it so as I grew up, I had no idea how to deal with it or recognize the signs. The first sign was in middle school; I started to experience insomnia. My family found other causes for it, but nothing helped. In my early 20s, life really hit me, and I had no idea how to deal with the extreme lows and anger I started to have. Again, I found I had no one to talk to about how I was feeling or what I was going through. This ultimately led me to start self-harm. I had it in my mind that cutting was the only way that I could feel “better”. When I did cut, I made sure to do it in places that I could cover up. One day, I finally opened up to my mom about it. She then shared that she also suffers from depression and that it runs on her side of the family. I continued my journey of self-harm, at least having some idea of why I was doing it and learning that it was not the best solution. It was not until 4 years ago; I made a promise to stop and deal with things in a better way. This took a lot of work and still does! I have someone now that I can lean on and depend on to keep me on the right track. To help myself on my path to a better road, I got a tattoo in order to cover up some of my scars. I have it now to look at and remember my promise. However, even though I am on medication that has really helped, I still have the desire to self-harm. Now, it is easier to fight the urge, but I know it is something that I have to work at every day! At this stage, I do enjoy sharing my story with others. I do not want anyone to feel like they are alone, or it is anything to be ashamed of. This is just a part of my life’s story, and it has made me who I am today!”

Please see the following video by MHA on how to reach out for help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNxfR0hovzY

If you would like more information about Mental Health America, please see below:

Mental Health America

Website: https://mhanational.org/

Address:

500 Montgomery Street Suite 820

Alexandria, VA 22314

Contact Information:

https://mhanational.org/get-involved/contact-us/

Additional resources for mental health support:

MHA Affiliates: https://arc.mhanational.org/find-affiliate