Alison Malmon, founder of Active Minds, spoke about the goals and progress of the non-profit organization.

• Malmon said that the onset of mental illness can be found in a person's high school and college years.
• The Active Minds chapter at Marquette has flourished since its inception this past fall, Malmon said.

The Marquette chapter of Active Minds hosted national group founder Alison Malmon, who spoke about the stigma behind mental illness in a lecture Tuesday night.

Malmon started the group as a student at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001, about a year after the suicide of her older brother Brian.

Malmon said her brother was an exceptional student and had many friends in high school. He went on to attend Columbia University, where he excelled as well. But it was in his senior year that he was diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia. A year and a half later he committed suicide.

She said her brother had suffered from both conditions since his freshman year in college, but he hadn't said anything to anyone.

"He was alone and saw his conditions as a source of failure," Malmon said. "He asked himself how he could be successful with his conditions."

She said the horror and devastation of losing her brother affects her family every day.

One in five people experience a mental illness each year in the United States, according to Malmon. The onset of a person's mental illness tends to be during high school and college years.

Malmon said college students experience some form of stress every day, but whenever people are affected by a mental illness, they keep it to themselves. Students suffering from a mental illness hide the condition from the people around them because they feel stigmatized, she said.

"College students are done suffering, seeing their friends suffer and are fed up with it," Malmon said. "It is time to have discussion with our peers. We don't all have a mental illness, but we all do have mental health."

The goal of Active Minds is to open up the discussion of mental health on college campuses and to remove the stigma of mental illness. The Washington, D.C.-based non-profit group has 191 different chapters at campuses throughout the country.

Michael Mannarino, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, founded Marquette's Active Minds chapter last semester. He said the administration and students have shown a lot of support for the group. The group has partnered with the Counseling Center on campus.

The group here has flourished quickly, Malmon said.

Jennifer Lane, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she enjoyed seeing Malmon speak.

"I had not realized how there is a need to change the way people speak about mental health and how some language can make people with mental illness feel uncomfortable," Lane said.