#6 - Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First: Interview with Nathan Blanken

Today on Matters of the Mind, I’m continuing conversations with guests attending the Active Minds Mental Health Conference, the nation’s leading conference focused on young adults and mental health. I sit down to chat with Nathan Blanken, President of the Active Minds chapter at the University of Maryland. Nathan Discusses how he worked with a team to grow the group after the pandemic and how the chapter is now a thriving organization that has impacted hundreds of students. 

To learn more about Active Minds, visit their website www.activeminds.org

Transcript

Pippa: Hello everyone, my name is Pippa Greenberg, and you're listening to my podcast, Matters of the Mind. Today, I am in Washington, D. C., attending the Active Minds Mental Health Conference, the nation's leading mental health conference for young adults. I'm currently sitting with Nathan Blanken, Young Mental Health Champion.

Welcome to Matters of the Mind. 

Nathan: Yeah, thanks for having me. 

Pippa: So can you tell us about your work and what brings you to the Active Minds Conference? 

Nathan: So I've been involved with Active Minds for about four years. I got involved the spring of my freshman year. It was. About February, 2021, when I started getting involved with Active Minds, there was a chapter on my campus, but it was kind of frozen due to the pandemic.

So I worked with some people on my campus to get it up and running again. And we grew the chapter from about 200 people to now, I think we're sitting at just about 600 in a matter of three years. And I started as the PR director. So I was running social media for all of maybe two weeks. And then the president at the time asked if I wanted to take over the role because I was really enthusiastic about it. And I said, sure.

And ever since then, I was the president of the chapter. I joined the student advisory committee for Active Minds. So I got to work with some of the national staff. So then students around the country. And then my second year on the SAC, I was the president of the SAC, which got me a seat on the Board of Directors. This is my third or fourth conference. And I love being here. 

Pippa: That's amazing. So how long have you been on the board for? 

Nathan: So I've been on the board for just about two years. My term is coming to a close, but I've loved it. I've gotten to learn so much about the organization and all sorts of ways. And from all my life experiences, Active Minds, I feel like really stands out because I've gotten to chat with, I feel like almost every single staff member on the team.

And what sets Active Minds apart, in my opinion, is that the staff members on the Active Minds team go above and beyond in a way that they really care about the initiative and they care about the cause and they work with students so closely and it's, it's personal, which I think totally is a different level of doing your job.

And I see that all over the place within the organization. And I think that's what helps make this conference so great. And you can have all these cool people come in. Such great conversations are happening because the people that are setting up this conference really care. I think that just makes it totally different from any other organization out there.

Pippa: That's really great. So, what are you most interested in learning about at this conference? 

Nathan: I think there's a lot of really great things about this conference. Like, I love meeting people from other chapters, seeing people from all over, and hearing people from California, from Puerto Rico, New York, all over the place.

It's really wonderful. I think getting to have these conversations and hear people's perspectives from all over the place is super unique. And you get to talk with people that care so much about mental health awareness and advocacy and policy change and all these topics. So many things I've never even thought of, but people are so passionate about it and you can't find that anywhere else.

It's just great conversations and everyone's so excited to be here and to learn about all these different things. 

Pippa: Yeah, it's really amazing that there are so many people that are interested in Active Minds. So, what aspect of mental health advocacy is most significant to you and why? 

Nathan: Yeah, advocacy is huge and that a lot of what Active Minds does, uh, the policy work and sharing resources, uh, And I love that every active mind chapter has its own little unique things it does here and there and everyone has different roles. Not every one chapter is the same, which I think is beautiful. But for me, when I started working with active minds in my school, my goal was to just make one person smile. Right. If I can help one person's life, job done, obviously it's going to be more than that and I'm super happy it has been. Every single day. There's things that happen around campus and, you know, you can't know what's going on in every single person's life, but if you can provide resources and be helpful for students, you know, it can make someone's day without you even knowing. And so we've been fortunate enough to have such a large team on our campus.

We've now grown our chapter to 27 people on our executive board, which is bonkers. For a 600 person organization, 27 people managing this whole thing. I mean, if something happens on campus where we want to spread resources or run an event, it's like a business. I mean, it's a whole production, but we're able to have such a large effect and our school is 35, 000 students. And so between the 27 people on our executive board and the other 550 ish students in the chapter, we're able to have a large impact on campus pretty quickly. So that's really great. 

Pippa: That's wonderful. What role do you believe community support plays in mental health recovery and well being? 

Nathan: Community support is huge. Last summer, I had an internship for a company out in California. My whole family lives in Maryland, so I lived in California for the summer. I had no community. I was by myself. I didn't know anybody. I lived in an apartment building that was surrounded by construction. The closest grocery store was four miles away.

I was alone. And it was really scary. And I hadn't lived like that before. And I had a lot of anxiety because of it cause I didn't have my community. When I am here, I'm at school, my entire family's within an hour. So I can drive an hour in any direction, I can be with family, friends, whoever I need to help support me, they're there. And I didn't have that. 

To get back here from California was a six or nine hour flight, depending on time zones. And it really sucked because I was by myself, and the best I could do was FaceTime. There's only so much FaceTime you can do before it doesn't make a difference. So community support is huge. And being able to lean on people in different areas of your life to help support you. When you need it the most is super important. 

Pippa: Yeah, I understand how that goes completely. Being in a new environment is kind of tricky when you don't really know anyone and you're forced to put yourself out there and meet other people. It's difficult. 

Nathan: Absolutely. 

Pippa: So is there any advice that you would like to share for those struggling with mental health challenges or for anyone hoping to become a mental health advocate? 

Nathan: Yeah, absolutely. I feel like that's kind of a two parter. So I'll address the first part first. There's a lot of resources out there. Active Minds website has a ton of resources. One of the things that I like to share with people is, I have a note in my phone, in the notes app, and it's maybe 10 or 15 resources specific to my campus. And so when someone says that they're struggling, I just copy and paste the whole thing and just send it to them.

And it's got phone numbers to call and text and websites and videos and all sorts of things from mental health support to food support to housing and like all sorts of things. I'm trying to work with some students on my campus to create one unified document for housing assistance and food support and mental health support and sexual assault support and all sorts of things that people struggle with day to day.

And so I think there's a lot of resources out there. You just got to look. And when you find the resources, it's great to continue with the resources and don't just use them one time, get familiar and refer to the resources to other people. And that's really great. On the flip side for people that want to support their friends and family, I think there's a, a great analogy, when you're on an airplane, they do the safety briefing at the beginning and they say, in case of a sudden loss of pressure in the cabin, oxygen masks will drop down from overhead. And they always tell you, do your own oxygen mask before helping others. And I think that's super important.

And it relates really well to mental health because if you're not able to support yourself, it's really hard to support others. You may want to support others, but if you're not in a place within your own body and mind where you're solid, it's difficult to be there for somebody else in a capacity that they would need.

And so it's just like the oxygen mask. If you don't put your own oxygen mask on, it might be difficult to help somebody else. So it's really important that you have a solid foundation before extending too far. 

Pippa: That's a great analogy. I love that. Is there anything else that you would like to share today?

Nathan: No, I think this is great and love the project and the podcast. This is really awesome.