The beginning of the school year is always a great time to catch up with your friends and get back into that school routine but let’s not forget that it is a great time to join and experiment with new clubs. One such club is Patriot Mind Matters. Not only is a club like this great for meeting new, like-minded students, but it creates a safe space for students alike to speak their minds about mental health.

Patriot Mind Matters focuses on providing students with well-researched, informational lessons on everyday issues and topics that surround mental health in young minds, all while making it more interesting through games and activities that take away from your average lecture-based presentations. Patriot Mind Matters aspires to produce a safe environment for students to be able to share anything that they are going through in their lives, whether that is school-related or on a personal level, encouraging students to express their feelings and emotions. “Our main goal is to provide a safe space for anyone to focus on their mental health and well-being. Through this, we hope to grow friendships and nourish healthy self-care practices,” co-president Nico D’Orazio said.

This year, Patriot Mind Matters has officially joined the Our Mind Matters organization, allowing for more resources to be provided to students and the continuation of focusing on young students’ mental health. Our Mind Matters is a student-led club model in which students are empowered to promote school-wide connectedness, encourage others to seek help when it is needed as well as develop much needed coping skills. “As a result of our merger with Our Minds Matter, we are able to provide even better resources and activities within our club meetings. We believe that Our Minds Matter has truly helped us grow,” D’Orazio said.

Patriot Mind Matters holds bi-weekly meetings every first Tuesday and third Thursday of the month. Though they have yet to hold their first meeting this Thursday, there is much to look forward to. “We usually have group discussions or group activities that focus on mental health through various different outlets such as fun quizzes, learning more about each other, or just learning about ourselves,” co-president Sudiksha Purohit said.

There is a big variety of clubs that vary in people as well as their personal goals as clubs so it is important to find a club that can be beneficial to you throughout the year as well as just enjoyable to be a part of. “Mental health is such an important aspect of life that, I believe, should be more focused especially while school is on going so I am glad that there is a club that allows students to connect with each other and talk about these kinds of issues,” sophomore Saanvi Gadilla said.