Many students live stressful lives that are often negatively affected by depression and anxiety.
But one Cal High club, Anthrominds, aims to solve these issues by raising awareness about mental health.
Started by sophomore Arjun Patel, Anthrominds has the goal of spreading the knowledge and understanding about the importance of mental health, and how emotions and feelings can impact daily life.
“I created Anthrominds to raise awareness about mental health to our community, especially other students who are having problems in their lives,” Patel said. “Mental health is a really important part of our lives, and I want Anthrominds to spread that message.”
Patel focused on making lessons at club meetings interactive and engaging so members could be entertained and inspired at the same time.
Patel has invited guest speakers to talk about mental health as well as create fascinating and engaging lessons to allow people to learn about mental health.
“We host guest speakers who are experienced professionals to talk about mental health and their experiences with it,” Patel said. “We also have fundraisers to raise money that we give back to the community.”
Anthrominds adviser Christina Haaverson, who teaches Positive Psychology, believes the club is making a large impact on the community by raising awareness about mental health.
“This club really goes above and beyond in terms of making people understand their own emotions and mental health,” Haaverson said.
She believes that mental health is important in order to understand emotions as well as connecting with others.
“What many of us do is create a facade where we tell ourselves everything is alright and perfect, but the problem with that is it gets in the way of connecting with people,” Haaverson said. “We connect over our strengths as well as our weaknesses, so hiding those things is not good for our relationships.”
Sophomore Aritro Bhattacharjee found the idea of making interactive and entertaining events compelling, leading him to become the club’s vice president.
“I really enjoyed how Arjun wanted to make the club interactive through guest speakers, and I thought this would be a new way of approaching the topic,” Bhattacharjee said. “I was excited to join the club because it felt new and interesting.”
During a typical club meeting, the officers will either discuss a previous meeting, ask attendees about any thoughts or questions they may have, or have an interview with a guest speaker.
“First we start off by giving everyone five minutes to settle in and be comfortable,” Bhattacharjee said. “And at the end of the meetings, we usually give them some more time to reflect on what we just covered and survey them to see if they have questions.”
Junior club treasurer Akshay Madivanan believes this format contributes to the club being effective at changing peoples’ perspectives about mental health.
“I like how we keep the meetings relaxed and more focused on our members by giving them time to be comfortable and digest what they have just learned,” Madivanan said. “It is something that I definitely have not seen before, and I think a lot of our members appreciate this more relaxed style.”
Madivanan joined Anthrominds as a board member after he saw a poster on campus about the club. He wanted to pursue a field he loved: anthropology, which is the study of human evolution and origins.
“Getting to meet people in our community who had a love for anthropology was a big reason I joined the club,” Madivanan said. “I definitely learned a lot more about anthropology because of it.”
Madivanan likes how Anthrominds was able to expose him to a community of people that shared his interests.
“One thing I love about this club is that I was able to interact with people who liked anthropology too,” Madivanan said. “Seeing others who were passionate about this field was what made the club so interesting to me.”
Once he started attending meetings and listening to guest speakers, Madivanan began to appreciate how important mental health was in his own life.
“Listening to guest speakers talk about mental health inspired me and our club members, and I realized how mental health is basically everything,” Madivanan said. “It is all about your mindset and your ability to connect with your emotions and stay in the zone.”
In the future, Patel hopes to grow and host more events that reach a broader audience of people who can take care of their mental health and learn more about themselves in the process.
“I hope this club continues long after I leave and continues to host bigger events,” Patel said. “I am so glad we have had so much success with our club so far, and I hope Anthrominds is able to have a larger impact.”
