First National ‘Mental Health Action Day’ to Drive People to Take a First Mental Health Action for Themselves or Others

Learn more at www.MentalHealthActionDay.org

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NEW YORK CITY—MTV Entertainment Group, in partnership with 193 leading brands, nonprofits and cultural leaders today announced the first-ever Mental Health Action Day, to be held on Thursday, May 20 during Mental Health Awareness Month.

Over the past two decades, suicide rates have risen, particularly among young adults. And the COVID pandemic has accelerated the already dire crisis, giving way to what many mental health professionals have called the “second pandemic.”

Though more people than ever are comfortable discussing mental health, finding effective resources and knowing how to get help remains a challenge. Mental Health Action Day is an open-source movement of brands, organizations and cultural leaders to drive culture from mental health awareness to mental health action.

Partners will encourage people to take their first steps towards mental health action—whether for themselves, for their loved ones or to advocate for systemic changes. Resources and tools will be available for people to seek help in a myriad of ways from starting a meditation practice, learning how to support a friend, or advocating for change.

Partners To Date:

• 320 Changes Direction
• AARP
• Active Minds
• Administration for Children and Familie
• AIM Youth Mental Health
• AIR - Attitudes In Reverse
• Aliento
• Alma
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• AmeriCorps
• baty
• Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc.
• BET
• BetterUp
• Blue Shield of California’s BlueSky Initiative
• Born This Way Foundation
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Americ
• BRAVO SIERR
• Bring Change to Mind
• Charity Bomb
• Chipotle Mexican Grill
• Cities Thrive Coalition
• City of Kindness
• CivicGeorgia
• Clinton Foundation
• Clubhouse International
• CMT
• Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE)
• Color Of Change
• Comedy Central
• Comedy Gives Back
• Communities In Schools®
• Compass Coffe
• Complex Networks
• Cope Notes®
• Crisis Text Line
• CURA Strategies
• Didi Hirsch Mental Health Service
• DoSomething.org
• Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation
• Drumming for Your Life Institute
• Empathy Rocks
• Empire Vets
• End Rape On Campus
• Entertainment Industries Council, Inc. (EIC)
• Eventbrite
• EVERFI
• Falkora Mental Health and Neutrotech Initiative
• FaZe Clan
• Feeding America®
• Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
• Find Your Anchor
• First Responders First
• Fountain House
• FourBlock
• General Assembly
• Generation S.O.S.
• GI Go Fund
• GIPHY
• Give an Hour
• GLAAD
• Grit Digital Health
• Gympass
• #HalfTheStory
• HeadCount
• Headspace
• Health Action Alliance
• Hilinski’s Hope
• Hillel International
• Hines Foundation
• Home Base
• Hope For The Day
• Hopelab
• Inseparabl
• International Mental Health Association (IMHA)
• It's On Us
• The Jed Foundation
• JobPath Partners
• Joyful Heart Foundation
• JV Agency
• kate spade new york
• Kenneth Cole
• LogoTV
• Long Island Alzheimer's Dementia Center 
• Love is Louder
• MAD TASTY
• March for Our Lives
• MedCircle
• Mental Health America
• #MentalHealthPH
• Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI
• Morgan Stanley
• Movember
• MTV
• Musack
• MusiCares
• Muslim Advocates
• Muslim Public Affairs Council
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
• NAMI Westside Los Angeles
• National Action Alliance for Suicide Preventio
• National Alliance for Hispanic Health
• National Safety Council
• NBCUniversal
• Never Alone Mental Health & Suicide Prevention
• NEXUS
• NM Impact Ltd.
• NoStigmas
• Notes for needs
• NowMattersNow.org
• NowThis
• Number Story
• Office Depot
• On Our Sleeves®
• One Love Foundation
• One Mind
• Operation Homefront
• Overtown Youth Center
• Painted Brain
• Panorama Global
• Paramount Pictures
• Paramount Network
• PAUSE+EXPAND
• Peer Health Exchange
• Penske Media Corporation
• Plant People
• Poder Latinx
• Pop TV
• Project Healthy Minds
• Psych Hub
• Puffco
• Punk Rock Food Driv
• Queens Gaming Collective
• Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez
• Reddit
• Represent Justice
• RespectAbility
• Rise Above The Disorder
• Rock to Recovery
• Saint City Culinary Foundation (iheardyou.org)
• Sana Benefits
• Sanvello Health
• Shatterproof
• SHOWTIME^®
• Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance
• Smithsonian Channel
• Snap Inc.
• Songs That Saved My Life
• Sound Mind Live
• Special Olympics, Inc.
• Storyline Partners
• Stronger Than Stigma®
• Student Veterans of America
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• Taskeen Health Initiative
• Teen Line
• The Ad Council
• The Chopra Foundation
• The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
• The Kennedy Forum
• The Lewis Prize for Music
• The Mental Health Coalition
• The National Council for Behavioral Health
• The People Concern
• The Trevor Project
• The Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health
• Therapists in Tech
• Therapy for Black Girls
• theSkimm
• THIRA Health
• Thrive Global
• TimelyMD
• TIME’S UP Foundation
• To Write Love on Her Arms
• Too Small To Fail
• Trans Lifeline
• TV Land
• Two Chairs
• Uber
• UNICEF
• United Nations Verified
• Unite The United
• United Suicide Survivors International
• United Way Worldwide
• Univision Communications Inc.
• VHI
• ViacomCB
• ViacomCBS Veterans Network
• Vibrant Emotional Health
• VICE Media Group
• Vice Ventures
• VS PINK
• VidCon
• Watering Seeds
• Wounded Warrior Project
• YouTube
  

Mental Health Action Day is being planned in partnership with TaskForce, a cultural organizing agency that builds capacity for those taking on the most pressing challenges facing our communities, our nation and our world.

“From COVID-19 to economic struggles and the continuing fight for racial justice, the other half of the twin pandemic is the rise of our mental health challenges,” said Erika Soto Lamb, vice president of Social Impact Strategy at MTV Entertainment Group. “This is a critical moment to shift our culture from mental health awareness to mental health action and MTV is proud to come together with diverse cross-sector leaders on this inaugural day to encourage and empower people to take action—for themselves, for their loved ones or for the systemic changes needed to improve our social and emotional wellbeing.”

Additional participants and more information about how each partner will activate on May 20 will be forthcoming. More on Mental Health Action Day and initial partners can be found at www.MentalHealthActionDay.org  

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Mental Health Action Day is an open-source movement of brands, organizations and cultural leaders to drive culture from mental health awareness to mental health action. The first Mental Health Action Day will take place on May 20, 2021 with a mission to encourage and empower people to take their first steps towards mental health action—whether for themselves, for their loved ones or to advocate for systemic changes, because mental health is health. Learn more at www.MentalHealthActionDay.org  

Founded in 1968, Special Olympics is a global movement to end discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities. We foster acceptance of all people through the power of sport and programming in education, health, and leadership. With more than six million athletes and Unified Sports partners in over 190 countries and territories and more than one million coaches and volunteers, Special Olympics delivers more than 30 Olympic-type sports and over 100,000 games and competitions every year. Engage with us on: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedInand our blog on Medium. Learn more at www.SpecialOlympics.org.

Mary Davis, CEO of Special Olympics:

“People with intellectual disabilities are among the most marginalized and excluded people worldwide. Over the last year, Special Olympics athletes have experienced acute loneliness, anxiety and stress due to their competitions being canceled and the social isolation due to COVID-19. Special Olympics emphasizes how important mental health is to being at one’s best. Our Strong Minds programming provides activities to promote emotional well-being, reduce traumatic stress and improve coping skills and resilience. We are thrilled to partner with MTV in their first Mental Health Action Day, where they are putting a spotlight on the need for providing critical resources and information to promote emotional well-being and mental health.”

Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO of Thrive Global:

“Even before the coronavirus pandemic, we were already in a growing mental health crisis. And the past year has shown us the value of mental resilience, and the necessity of putting an end to the stigma around mental health and widening access to mental health services. Mental Health Action Day will help spur the culture shift we need on mental health and well-being.”