For third-year services management student Wade Jefferson, mental health is a deeply personal cause. Having lost friends to suicide during college, Jefferson said he felt a responsibility to break down the barriers around mental health discussion, and saw starting a club as the perfect opportunity to do so. Things started out small, but thanks to its "SpeakYourMIND" ice bucket challenge, USC MIND has gained a massive following.
Jefferson founded USC MIND last February. He said the name is short for Mental Illness Needs Discussion, and currently serves as the club's president.
“I wanted to do something about it, never wanted anyone to feel that way again,” Jefferson said. “Letting people know that they’re not alone and they can speak up, destigmatize conversations around mental health, and make them common and comfortable.”
The club launched the "SpeakYourMIND" ice bucket challenge, where a container of cold water gets poured on the person posting the video to raise money via a donation link in support of Active Minds, a national mental health nonprofit supporting youth and young adult mental health.
The club had high hopes for the challenge. However, even the members didn’t expect it to reach very far beyond the Palmetto State.
“We definitely thought it was going to circle around South Carolina, maybe get around to some other communities and kind of just die off there,” Jefferson said. “Our original goal was $500 to raise for the Active Minds organization, and ... we were super happy when we hit that.”
Instead, it took social media by storm as thousands of nominees from universities all around the country took on the challenge. Soon, high school students entered the fray, then it reached Europe. Even celebrities joined in.
“This morning, somebody texted me, 'Oh my god dude, Peyton Manning did your challenge,'” Jefferson said. “It’s comforting knowing that so many people are bringing attention and awareness and fundraising and bringing support to a cause like this.”
Since then, the challenge has been featured on national programs like "Today" and posted by additional public figures such as Eli Manning, James Charles and Shane Beamer.
Yogesh Chavda, a lecturer who teaches marketing to business students at USC, said MIND, like the original 2014 ice bucket challenge that raised awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) captured a “viral moment.” Chavda said those moments are something countless organizations aim for, but only a select few achieve.
“It’s really not in your control as to what will be truly viral or not,” Chavda said. “What you can do is try to focus on doing something that is original, it’s authentic, it’s fun, it’s catchy and that’s what really makes it happen.”
Chavda said the most powerful and positive effect of the challenge’s wide popularity was simply letting people know there’s support out there.
“There’s so much uncertainty, there’s so much anxiety that’s out there,” Chavda said. “You don’t want people to go down into that territory of dark thoughts, you want them to kind of step back from that edge and say, 'No, there is hope, and there is help for me to get through this, and people are there to support me through the process.'”
Joshua Szehner, a first-year exercise science student, said he didn’t initially realize the challenge's deeper meaning.
“I was like, 'Dang, that looks pretty fun,'” Szehner said. “I just looked into it a little bit more, and I realized it was like a cool little movement.”
Szehner, a Columbia native, said seeing something from USC spread so far made him feel a sense of identity and pride.
Charlie Flowe, a third-year student at Riverside High School in Durham, North Carolina, who participated in the challenge, said he had no idea how widespread it was.
“I saw it on friends' Instagram stories,” Flowe said. “I looked at the USC MIND Instagram page, and I was quite surprised.”
Jefferson said the sudden spotlight on the club was a shock to its system, but its tight-knit culture and the self-sustaining nature of the challenge have kept them grounded.
We’re still a small student-led organization at South Carolina, and we’re gonna continue to be the same organization, and continue to preach our mission and strive to accomplish our vision,” Jefferson said. “This has not been that overwhelming, because other people are nominating their other friends, so we can just kind of sit back and look at how cool it is.”
Jefferson said MIND also hosts percent nights at local restaurants and promotes mindfulness around campus with tables and events.
He said MIND is a small, tight-knit organization, inspired by a club at Jefferson’s high school in Virginia. But the club is growing quickly, with 65 current members and over 650,000 followers on Instagram.
Jefferson said he hopes that the challenge leaves a lasting legacy around the country, by encouraging students to found their own MIND chapters and continue the organization’s mission of promoting mental health awareness and suicide prevention long after the ice water stops falling.
“It would mean the world. I’ve had people at other colleges already ask me about that, that’s what we envision,” Jefferson said. “We want to encourage them, like my high school encouraged me, and hopefully they’re just as inspired as I was.”
More information on USC MIND, along with a donation link, can be found on its Instagram page and website.