Active Minds was founded by Alison Malmon following the suicide of her only sibling. She recognized that there are thousands of students who suffer in silence. This is exacerbated by the fact that the onset age for the majority of mental illnesses fall between the age of 14 and 24. Suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst college students. Alison saw that while mental illness is common with one in five students being affected nobody talked about it. When people talk about mental illness it combats the stigma surrounding it and encourages those afflicted to seek help. Active Minds was officially incorporated as an organization in 2003. 

The purpose of our chapter is to empower students to speak openly about mental health in order to educate others and encourage help-seeking; increase awareness of issues surrounding mental health, symptoms related to mental health disorders and to provide mental health resources for university community members.