Hannah

After developing POTS, a condition that causes her to faint, then 15-year-old Hannah Lucas, was terrified of being alone. What would happen to her if she fainted and no one was around? 

Hannah's fears quickly spiraled into anxiety and deep depression, which led to self harm. By the end of her freshman year of high school, she missed 196 classes due to her condition. 

It was during one of Hannah’s lowest moments, alone in her room and contemplating self harm, when the idea for the notOK App™ was born. What if there was a button she could press and someone would immediately know she was not okay? 

When her condition stabilized, Hannah was able to take coding and entrepreneurship classes at local colleges, which empowered her to see her vision through. 

notOK™ is Hannah’s first app and Bug and Bee, LLC is Hannah’s first company.

Emily

Emily Kuzminsky is a junior in high school from West Bloomfield, Michigan whose passion is helping people, mental health, and suicide prevention. She helps her community break the stigma around mental health challenges and suicide prevention by being on numerous boards for these causes where she plans community events and increases their awareness. Additionally, she started a UMatter club at her school to help students have a place to go to feel safe and to be reminded that they matter. She has also created a website called TEAMYOU where she raises money for suicide prevention (www.team-you.org). Emily serves on the youth advisory board because she is determined to have an impact on other people, the world, and those who are struggling.

Mariam

Mariam Khamaj is a rising senior in high school from Newton, Massachusetts. Especially after the pandemic struck, she realized the value of mental health and suicide prevention. She devoted much of her junior year to a listener internship at a mental health hotline, and from her positive experiences helping people her age 1-on-1 with mental health related issues, she was motivated to make a change on a national level by serving on the youth advisory board. She is particularly passonate about promoting mental health efforts in underserved areas and in minority groups where resource may not be as readily available or have a stigma surrounding them.

Instagram: @mariamkhama.j

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Nam is a junior in high school from Raleigh, North Carolina. Most people call her Libby. She values mental health for herself and others. While growing up, she noticed the stigma for mental health and the problems her friends faced with mental health issues. So, Libby and her friends founded the Mental Health Awareness club at her school to raise awareness for mental health, the stigma, and to allow the school to acknowledge teenage mental health. She is passionate about helping her community and other fellow teenagers feel comfortable and safe. Libby is on the youth advisory board to make a change for positive mental health, especially during these hard times.

Yeli

After dealing with her own mental health struggles in middle school, Yeli became passionate about combating teen mental health. This inspired her to develop Seventh, an international award winning app that employs enjoyable strategies like music listening, song writing, beat-making, reflecting, community and guided breathing to promote greater mental and emotional wellness in teenagers. Under the mentorship of licensed music therapists, Seventh uses a unique music for wellness approach to combat the ever growing teen mental health crisis. In addition to developing Seventh, Yeli is a trained active listener on the 7 Cups platform where she provides 1-on-1 emotional support to teenagers around the world dealing with emotional issues and her work on the benefits of music for teen mental health has been published in the Youth Medical Journal. Yeli serves on the Youth Advisory Board to continue creating a positive impact in improving teen mental health. 

Fenway

Fenway Jones is a high school senior. At 11 she started her gaming career with Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons. At 14 she lost two friends to suicide and decided to use the grief and pain she was feeling to take actionable steps to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. She started the 501c3 non-profit Jasper’s Game Day to use her hobby, gaming, to raise money for suicide prevention and awareness. She wants to bring the gaming community together and show everyone they are not alone. Since starting JGD just under $200k for crisis hotlines and centers has been raised. Within the RPG community, she also creates, writes, designs, and publishes RPG adventures. She has previously spoken at the national AAS conference in 2019 and received the person of the year award for the efforts of raising awareness. She believes RPG’s are amazing and can change the world, every roll matters, and you are not alone.

Finn

Finn Jacobson is a senior in high school from Portland, Oregon. With mental health issues and suicide skyrocketing among his generation, Finn is passionate about mental health advocacy and de-stigmatizing mental health conversations. The #1 reason those struggling with mental health issues do not get help is barrier to access, whether it be financial trouble or stigma around talking about it. His passion for mental health has taken him to YouthLine, a teen-staffed peer-to-peer based crisis line where he is a Lead Volunteer. He also serves as the Student Activation Lead on the Work2BeWell National Student Advisory Council, where he aids in legislative activity around mental health and helps clubs to get off the ground across the nation. As the Advocacy and Inclusion Intern at #ICANHELP, Finn fulfills another of his passions- equity and accessibility, working to establish clear DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) practices at #ICANHELP, an organization dedicated to deleting negativity online.

Caroline

Caroline Grannum is an athletically and academically driven high school senior from South Texas. She helped increase her community's awareness of suicide prevention by distributing information on the risk factors and warning signs of suicide to attendees at a local health fair at the Boys and Girls Club. She also helped her county's Child Fatality Review Team with the layout, design, and computational analysis of data derived from a suicide prevention survey completed by attendees at the health fair. She was personally affected by suicide when a close friend of hers attempted suicide at a young age. Caroline serves on the youth advisory board because she is passionate about helping her peers become more resilient in the face of trying times.

Mackenzie

Mackenzie Duan is a rising sophomore from the Bay Area who cares a lot about mental health awareness, especially after her own experiences dealing with anxiety and depression. Her goal is to be able to give back to the community and help people who may be facing similar struggles, especially young LGBTQ people of color. She believes that a lot of people are scared to make the first step to get help or even admit that they need it because of the stigma surrounding suicidal thinking and mental health, which is something she is really passionate about changing.

Sam

Sam Gerry is a college sophomore from Woburn, Massachusetts. After experiencing suicidality personally, Sam began his suicide prevention advocacy with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention through fundraising. One year later, in 2019, Sam co-founded Kick It for a Cause, Inc. (kickitforacause.org), a charity kickball tournament turned nonprofit organization with the mission of raising awareness for suicide prevention through its annual kickball tournament, scholarships, educational programs, and legislative action. In addition to his work with Kick It, Sam is currently a member of the Unsinkable Youth international council and was formerly a member of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's youth blog council. In 2021, Sam was named to The Conversationalist's inaugural Conversationa-LIST in the mental health category, recognizing some of the top mental health advocates across the globe. Sam has made over a dozen international media appearances spreading awareness and looks forward to pursuing a professional career in suicidology.