Our mission statement at Hope Happens Here: “A primarily student-athlete run organization that aims to break the negative stigma associated with mental health issues. We strive to spread awareness and ‘start the conversation’ on mental health issues and create positive change when addressing these issues.”
Our mission statement at Hope Happens Here: “A primarily student-athlete run organization that aims to break the negative stigma associated with mental health issues. We strive to spread awareness and ‘start the conversation’ on mental health issues and create positive change when addressing these issues.”
Our Story
This idea was launched through the Saint Michael’s College Athletic Department and the College’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in September of 2015. Our intent is to work with our student-athletes to help destigmatize mental health issues that are prominent in athletics, due to the expected “toughness” each student-athlete feels the need to show to not let their teammates down.
We work directly with Athletic Departments and campus Counseling Services, amongst others, to set our student-athletes up with proper services they need to assure they are excelling at their full potential in the classroom and on the playing field.
At Hope Happens Here, our main intent is to promote awareness through education and “starting the conversation”. While we take a lot of pride in our fundraising efforts, we believe the most crucial step to take in breaking the stigma that surrounds mental health is educating our peers with statistics and helpful tips in dealing with their own mental health or the mental health of others. We stress that we are not therapy, nor do we have the qualifications to be therapists, and instead act as mediators in connecting people with proper resources and promoting healthy ways of life.
Hope Happens Here has spread to multiple college campuses across the east.