Name: Lindsay Eckhaus
Class: Senior, 2012
Major: Biopsychology
What is Active Minds? It’s a national organization dedicated to promoting mental health awareness on college campuses. There are chapters at colleges all across the US.
What is the event that Active Minds is putting on? It’s called PostSecret. Like Frank Warren’s PostSecret project (postsecret.com), we are asking Tufts students to write a secret anonymously on a postcard and then return it to us. We will put all of the secrets on display during reading week.
What is your role in this project? I’m in charge of this project, and I’m really excited about it, so I’ve been putting in a lot of effort brainstorming ideas and figuring out all the logistics with everyone else in the group. All of the behind-the-scenes stuff- chalking, flyering, inviting Facebook friends, paperclipping 1000s of instructions to blank postcards, etc- takes a lot more time than you’d think.
What does Active Minds hope to accomplish through the project? We want to normalize mental health, by making people realize that everyone deals with some emotion related to mental health everyday. We also hope everyone will enjoy looking at the postcards and find at least one secret they can relate to. No matter how weird, sad, happy, or uncomfortable you may feel, I guarantee someone else has felt the same way.
How do people get the postcards and send them in? Blank postcards have been distributed to every mailbox in the dorms. For people living off-campus or for people who want to make more than one, you can pick up a blank postcard from the box at the Tisch circulation desk or the Rez. You can send them in by returning them to the dropbox at the Tisch circulation desk.
How did you decide to start this PostSecret event? It’s something I’ve been thinking about since my sophomore year. It definitely relates to the mission of Active Minds, it involves everyone in the Tufts community, and it is really popular with and exciting to most people who know about it. We all want to know everyone else’s secrets.
Where will the postcards be displayed? We aren’t positive yet- it depends how many we get. There will be at least one display in the campus center and hopefully we get enough to display in other locations around campus.
What kinds of secrets are you hoping/expecting to get? Lots of weird quirks, obsessive thoughts, dramatic feelings, funny stories…anything and everything.
What else does Active Minds do in the Tufts community? Our mission is to reduce stigma against mental health and normalize it within the community. In the past we have organized speakers panels and film discussions. We also distribute resources about counseling services and do stress relieving activities like finger painting.
Do you know someone who deserves to be a Tufts Campus Celebrity? Send us an email at tuftshercampus@gmail.com!