USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge

After my brother’s death, and knowing how preventable it was, I resolved — no matter what — to do something to change the way we approach mental health in this country. — Alison K. Malmon, Founder and Executive Director, Active Minds

Disclaimer: this story contains mention of struggles with mental health and suicide. Reader discretion is advised. 

Social Media Trend

I’m sure many of your feeds have been flooded with the USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge. Countless videos of people nominating their friends before being doused with a bucket of ice water. Although this trend is super fun to watch and a great way to have fun with your friends, there is a much more important meaning behind it. Wonderful as this challenge is, it means nothing if the message is not being spread. 

What is it + Why is it Important?

The USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge is a current trend that has much more meaning beyond dumping ice water over your head; the ice bucket challenge is actually about mental health awareness, self care, ending the stigma surrounding mental illness, suicide prevention, encouraging open conversations about mental health, and normalizing seeking help. This viral challenge originated from the University of South Carolina’s M.I.N.D. Club in collaboration with Active Minds. 

The USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge was born following the tragic loss of a student due to mental health.  USC M.I.N.D Club (Mental Illness Needs Discussion) promotes mental health awareness, advocating for suicide prevention, and encouraging daily mindfulness. When the ice bucket challenge took off, they partnered with Active Minds to further raise awareness and to make donations to their organization. 

According to their website, “Active Minds is the largest nonprofit in the United States mobilizing youth and young adults to transform mental health norms across society.” Active Minds was founded by Alison Malmon following the death of her brother in 2000. Her brother, a seemingly cool and popular kid, struggled in silence for years before finally taking his life his senior year of college. Alison, a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania at the time, was devastated by this loss. Upon noticing the stigma surrounding mental health and the lack of support at Penn, she wanted to advocate for change, hoping to bring awareness to and combat the stigma towards mental illness and prevent future tragedies like that of her brother. 

Within two years of its creation at Penn, the number of chapters across the nation quickly grew. With countless universities across the country calling Alison, wanting to create their own chapters, a national office was established in Washington, DC in 2003. Now, more than 20 years later, Active Minds is proud to share that there are “more than 1,000 campuses and communities, we directly reach more than 1.9 million people each year through awareness campaigns, events, advocacy, outreach, and more.” 

Ice Bucket Challenge Revival

The ice bucket challenge is no new concept. In 2014, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a trend sweeping across the nation, not only on social media, but even TV shows NBC’s The Today Show. This original challenge was to bring awareness to ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.  In 2014 alone, over 115 million dollars was raised. With the overwhelming success of the Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014, it makes perfect sense why the USC M.I.N.D. Club would partner with Active Minds to bring it back more than 10 years later! It’s safe to say that the trend has taken off yet again, but there is still much more to do!

Donate! 

Another part of the challenge, although not required, is to make a donation to Active Minds. While this is not required, the donations made are a huge step towards supporting this challenge. As of April 24th, 2025, well over $300,000 has been raised out of their $250,000 goal! While the massive achievement of raising this much money should be celebrated, reaching the goal doesn’t mean the donations should stop! 

USC has now provided a new link for donations going towards The Fight Against Suicide X USCMIND, where they currently only have $10,000 out of their $250,000 goal.  All donations go to support mental health awareness and suicide prevention efforts. These donations are more important than ever, even for the very students walking these halls. If your friends nominated you and there is no way that you are going to do the ice bucket challenge, consider donating a few dollars towards the cause — every penny counts!   

Realities of Mental Health

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults. Knowing the numbers is important to understanding the true importance of the issue — the statistics regarding mental health and suicide are staggering:

• The #2 leading cause of death among young adults is suicide

• 280 people decide not to go through with a suicide attempt for every person who dies by suicide

• 67% of young adults first tell a friend they are feeling suicidal before telling anyone else

• 1 in 5 adults have a diagnosable mental illness

• 50% of us will experience a mental health condition in our lifetime

From 2024 studies, it has been found that 40% of teens experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and 22% of teens have seriously considered attempting suicide.

Think about that. Look around your classes. It doesn’t take a genius to do the math. According to these statistics, it’s very likely that multiple in people in your classes not only struggle with mental health, but have seriously considered attempting suicide. This isn’t some far off issue that doesn’t affect you; you walk the halls with so many people that are silently struggling. 

So the next time you watch an ice bucket challenge, or even do it yourself, take a minute to really think about what you are doing. This viral trend is meaningless if the message isn’t being spread. Mental health matters. 

If you are struggling with mental health, help is available. 

School counselors are always available to talk. 

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline