Mental Health Month Ideas

Mental Health Month Activities for Students | Mental Health Month Activities for Students

“A healthy workforce is the foundation for thriving organizations and healthier communities.”

– U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD

May is Mental Health Month which means an opportunity to spark conversation on a difficult topic. Other times of the year, you might get more pushback from upper management so May might just be when you can get a mental health event approved.

Why promote mental health awareness in the workplace?

Because it says you care. And people want to stay at a workplace when they feel someone cares about their wellbeing. What’s more, meaningful experiences and events help employees feel happier and more connected in our increasingly isolated world.

The simple act of talking about mental health at work helps to normalize conversations about a once-taboo topic and can lead to:

• increased likelihood that employees will seek help and support before reaching crisis
• improved employee morale and better overall company culture
• increased productivity and engagement
• feelings of psychological safety at work
• better communication and teamwork

• Download the PDF of Corporate Mental Health Speaker Topics

• See the Mental Health Speaker for Workplace Programs Web Page

Workplace Mental Health Programs

Mental health games and activities for the workplace and students

“Globally, an estimated 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety at a cost of US$ 1 trillion per year in lost productivity.“

—WHO, World Health Organization

One of the most popular activities in workplaces, schools, and on college campuses is called Fishbowl. The one below has been downloaded thousands of times. Some of the fishbowl slips of paper will be “too young” but most of them are usable with any age and get people connecting and laughing.

Activity for Adults in Workplaces

Fishbowl Game: Activator Game for Creating Connection in Workplaces

Build teamwork, connections, relationships, and a foundation of workplace wellness with this done-for-you activity. Works great as an icebreaker!

Download the Activity

Activity for Students in Schools

This fishbowl game for students + the bonus activator games will help:

• Create connection and belonging among students
• Build Relationships

Get Fishbowl Game

The following activities you can try out – whether they are working in person, remotely, or some combination of the two:

Anonymous “I Struggle with….” Post-It Note Mental Health Game/Activity

One in five employees wonders if their workplace would feel their loss if they died tomorrow.

Put out some post-it notes with markers. And a note on the wall that says, “Post one or two post-it notes on the wall with something you struggle with. One issue per post it and no more than two per person.” Ask them to stick it on the wall.

It’s best to have a few to start with so encourage a few to make sure there are some post-its up there so everyone starts to understand the activity. The overall effect is very powerful. People start to see similarities and feel less alone. When doing this online I’ve used Jamboard on Google but that’s being phased out so you can use Lucidspark, Figjam, or Miro.

If you want to do this electronically, you can do mentimeter.com and use the “word cloud.” Note that if it’s a really big group Mentimeter might not be as effective as it would be for a small group of 20 or less. The post-it notes can be left up for a while.

Here is the pdf for this mental health activity with an on-site poster on the last page to explain it. That’s if you want to do the whole learning activity. You can do this with adults, students, and almost any age as long as they can write.

Anxiety Education One Sheet

Does Avoidance Make Anxiety Worse? Actually, it does!

But many don’t know that. This one-page PDF shows the cycle in an easy-to-understand layout. You can get more info on the blog post here.

Strategies that help are working through the anxiety-producing event, diving in and recognizing it won’t kill you, and giving you the opportunity to learn new skills that will help you manage anxiety. DBT skills like “Just the facts” or “opposite action” help with emotional regulation and personal skill building.

Download the simple, one-page PDF of “How Avoidance Can Make Anxiety Worse.”

Get the PDF

Start with a Quiz

One of the most popular downloads on my site is the quizzes with an answer key. You can take the quiz together as a group or break down into small groups and discuss the results.

Mental Health Quizzes

• Anxiety Quiz: 11 true/false statements
• Suicide Quiz: 11 true/false statements
• Depression Quiz: 11 true/false statements
• Included with each quiz is an answer key for facilitators with discussion points (PDF)
• Bonus crisis text line poster

Click Here

Provide an educational mental health workshop

Stories from existing employees are effective. But while surveys show that people want to talk about mental health, they do not necessarily feel they want to talk and tell their stories in front of others. Usually, they want to see someone else take that lead first.

Nothing will be more effective than hearing from peers and managers and it’s important to note no one has to tell every secret about themselves, just a piece of theirs that is relevant. In other words, you can be vulnerable without oversharing and undermining your leadership.

Bringing in a mental health expert to educate your team about their mental health and ways to cope with stress is a great way to show them that you care about their well-being. It is also a way to start the conversation because most workplaces don’t know where to start and it’s an awkward subject. Once people hear someone else’s story, they are more inspired to share theirs.

However, it is important that if you have employees telling their stories there are guidelines. The eBook below provides specific examples and a handout to offer some guidelines. Narratives should be 15-20 minutes long, be reviewed ahead of time by someone else (preferably someone who is qualified), and using the right language is also important: Guidelines for Successful Storytelling.

Guidelines for Novice Mental Health Speakers

1. Describe who you are, what you do, and a bit about yourself.
2. Share your experience of crisis. What happened before you received the help you needed? Think about the most important thing you’d like your listener to know. Keep this section brief and don’t include triggering graphic details of a suicide method or attack.
3. Share what helped you. Describe how you got through the crisis and found help and hope, or what more would have helped you. This step is important, as it illustrates the value of support and provides resources or actions others can take.
4. Share your experience of recovery. How has this experience changed you for the better? What kind of support helped you? What coping strategies helped you? Share how you maintain recovery and share your hope for others.
5. Share resources. Every talk about suicide or mental illness should also have resources. That can be in the form of a slide and cards to hand out that promote help-seeking behavior.

• (Reference: Guidelines for Successful Storytelling.)

Free eBook: How to Craft Your Mental Health Story for Public Events

• Includes a content warning script template
• Clear steps to reviewing scripts & stories
• Safety guidelines for the event
• How to coach storytellers
• Handout templates for novice storytellers to write their narratives for panel events

Get the eBook

Need Mental health training for educators? Click here.

Roll the Dice. Say Something Nice

So many are wired for negative bias. That means they focus on the negative aspects of their performance, obsess over the constructive feedback, and ignore the 85% of positive reinforcement given. It might be the perfectionists on the team or class. This is especially good if your team, school, or company is going through changes which tends to churn up a lot of gripe sessions because people are uncomfortable with change. It’s human nature.

But we can rewire that mindset by helping people recognize their accomplishments, what was good about their day, and get less tangled up in perfectionism. This is a simple game that works for any age group. You need a die (singular for dice) to play and this printed paper.

It says “Roll the Dice” but you only need one Die. Download the pdf below. This game inspires more positive thinking and some laughs.

Get the PDF

Conversation Starters

Connection and belonging are the foundation of a good wellness culture. And this simple game is meant to help others get to know their teammates, co-workers, or classmates. This is just a list of fun questions to get the team talking. You need nothing but the PDF.

Example questions are:

• What is one thing on your bucket list?
• What is one smell you never get tired of?
• What 3 things would you bring to a deserted island?

Download the pdf below. This is a good “get to know one another” game.

Get the PDF

Talk to your leadership team about mental health

“Basic training in mental health promotion doesn’t involve a two-year graduate degree, nor is it intended to turn managers into therapists (that would be a terrible idea). It is just awareness and human relations 101: How to be kind, how to listen, what to look out for, and how to create an environment of emotional (or psychological) safety.“

– Sarah Greenberg, MFT

Your management is likely overwhelmed with employee mental health issues. They need to know first, that they are not expected to be therapists or fix their employees’ problems. Usually, they are relieved to hear that. However, they do training on how to listen and respond in a way that creates a culture of wellness. They need to know how to connect people with the right resources and learn to manage their own mental health. Engage the leadership team and review the organization’s stance on mental health.

Use this opportunity to:

• review and revise any current mental health initiatives
• implement and promote new initiatives
• provide mental health training to management
• spread awareness (remind staff) of available resources (i.e. EAP program, insurance, etc.)
• empower them to be vulnerable and share personal stories

Free Mental Health Posters

• The #JustListen suicide prevention poster
• Crisis Text Line Poster
• Plus posters focused on men’s mental health (these are funny!)
• We’re always adding more

Get Your Poster Pack

Bring in therapy dogs

Many areas have nonprofits or people who volunteer for hospitals to bring in therapy dogs. Section off an area of the office for this and invite employees to visit the animals for some unconditional animal love.

Mental health ideas that work for students (and faculty/staff) on a college campus can be found here in my video interview with Dr. Cynthia Ellison at Virginia State University.

Online Screening

Online screening is one of the quickest and easiest ways to determine whether you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition.

• Mental Health America offers a free online screening tool that provides information, resources, and tools to help understand and improve mental health.
• And ManTherapy.org also offers a legit “head inspection” which is just another word for a mental health evaluation.

ManTherapy also has some hilarious videos to spark conversation. These videos poke fun but also teach at the same time they make people laugh.

“I’m proud of the Company for prioritizing mental health initiatives and enabling employees to attend.  It helps our workplace as well as our communities to provide education and tools to DE employees.”

—Dominion Energy Employee testimonial

The Sound Game

You can see the details of the Sound Game here. But in short, you play three very different sounds and ask questions to promote discussion on how exposing yourself to the right sound can calm you. While some sounds are jarring and make you more anxious.

Here is a link to the Sound Game Activity for Mental Health blog post.

Get rules, discussion questions, three sounds for the game, and sound libraries with copyright-free sound effects in case you want to replace any of them.

Get the Sound Game

Any activity that promotes connection

Any game or team-building activity is good for the mental health of your group.

Here are some examples under each of the five main types of team building:

• Meeting Kick-Offs – make meetings more enjoyable and encourage participation
  • Two Truths and a Lie game. Tell three things about yourself, one of which is a lie and have people guess which one is the lie.
  • Famous DInner Guest – if you could have dinner with any famous figure, who would it be and why?
  • Emoji Story – describe something (i.e. summer vacation) using only a series of emojis
• Communication – promote excellent communication skills (both speaking and listening)
  • Scavenger Hunt
  • Did You Hear That? – insert random, unrelated words into your presentation. At the end of the meeting, see who noticed the most
  • Office Trivia – trivia using the company and employee information
• Creative Thinking – foster innovation across teams
  • Office Jeopardy
  • Pictionary
  • Charades
  • Dating game
• Employee Bonding – build authentic relationships that transcend the workplace
  • Community Service – gather local employees to perform some type of community service. Ask them for their input about the project you will support. There are tons of options for this, including holding a blood drive, sponsoring an event, volunteering at a shelter, building homes for the homeless, cleaning up a local park, and pretty much anything in between.
  • Potluck – hold regular potluck lunches and eat together
  • Coffee Break – treat your team to a coffee/tea/soda during a scheduled meeting. If you have virtual team members, send them a gift card and ask them to bring their drink when they join the meeting.

“Taking care of your employees’ mental health is good for the bottom line. It’s good for business. It’s good for the economy.” 

– Jody Adewale, psychologist & Medical Advisor for Made of Millions.

Supporting mental health initiatives at work is not only the right thing to do, it makes good business sense

By recognizing the importance of mental health and implementing supportive initiatives, employers can create a safer, healthier, more productive, and more resilient workplace. This, in turn, results in improved productivity, reduced costs, and enhanced reputation and competitive position, which benefits everyone involved.

To see Mental Health Speaker for Schools Programs and Suicide Prevention Training for Educators, click the button below.

School Mental Health Speaker

AnneMoss Rogers

AnneMoss Rogers is a leading wellness and suicide education expert and one of the top mental health speakers and suicide prevention speakers. Known for her powerful, motivational keynotes, AnneMoss combines her personal story of loss with proven strategies to help organizations build a wellness culture that drives results and saves lives.  She speaks at conferences, workplaces, K-12 schools, and universities, delivering impactful presentations that inspire change and promote mental health awareness.
AnneMoss does this work in memory of her son, Charles, who struggled with anxiety, depression, and addiction, and died by suicide at age 20 in 2015.