Exciting News!

I got a dream 1-month job. I’m absolutely thrilled to have gotten a job offer to work with the national non-profit Active Minds.

This isn’t your normal desk job, of course; no, this is pretty much the opposite. I’ll be working for a month on the road in California! At college campuses and public areas from San Francisco down to L.A., I’ll be working to change the dialogue on mental health. Specifically, I’ll be one of two road staffers working on a tour called Send Silence Packing. Send Silence Packing, or SSP, is the largest program of Active Minds, and this will be the 3rd tour project of theirs. I’ll be traveling with my tour partner (and pretty cool dude–read about the projects he’s working on here) Brandon, as well as the occasional staff memeber from Active Minds’s D.C. headquarters. You can check out the Road Staff section of SSP’s website to learn more, and I’d be so happy for you to follow the blog! We’ll soon be posting photos, video, and daily happenings.

Besides touring and display work, I’ll be writing daily blog posts on ssp.org, taking photos, interviewing attendees, filming and editing videos, speaking with the media, and more. We’ll be representing Active Minds on this project, and I couldn’t be more excited to work on such a great project that utilizes so much of my work experience.

This project works to change the dialogue on mental health. By working with their 350+ national chapters, they act as a necessary resource, trying to erase the stigma associated with mental health and suicide. This is a grave issue effecting 1,100 students per year in the U.S. We can all help prevent suicide by just talking about mental health and suicide–that is, speaking to friends and family, expressing concern, using free college counseling center resources, and not being afraid to talk about this important issue.

To demonstrate our point, we’ll be taking 1,100 backpacks on the road. All have been donated by supporters, and hundreds are the actual backpacks of lost ones. They have heartbreaking stories attached, and some still have posessions inside. These stories remind us all that the 1,100 student lives lost to suicide annually. isn’t just a statistic, but our brothers, daughters, friends, and loved ones. These lives CAN be prevented.

On a happier note, this job will mean a lot to me, and to be working with the terrific staff at Active Minds makes it even better. Why am I so excited about this opportunity? First off, I’ll be doing meaningful work. Psych was one of my majors in college, and I worked for a year with my school’s mental health and counseling center, concentrating on mental health and suicide analysis with local and national data. I did presentations and spoke to quite a few students about it, so I’m quite familiar with the area! Second, for years I’ve been searching for a kind of on-the-road job. I can see differen tplaces, meet different kinds of people, and explore on the side. Selfish? Crazy? Other people enjoy stability and peace of mind. I enjoy the unknown, and that means that I’ll be in a healthier state of mind to work, giving everyone better results. And third, how many times can I say that spontaneous trips, living on the road, camping with strangers, and having adventures has helped me get a job?

Today starts a new, wonderful adventure.