While Gabrielle Magid was in undergrad at the University of Florida, she realized that although there were mental health resources available on-campus, they seemed to be underutilized, and no one was talking about them. Real help seemed to be buried under stigma and bureaucracy that made everything worse. She knew the only way out was through and that a seismic culture shift was needed. With a little help from her friends and founding board members Skylar Warmund, Harrison Cady, and Allison Buenaga, Gabrielle worked to make this idea a reality; Stronger Than Stigma® was born in August 2013.
Not only would they aim to make it easier to talk about mental health and work to dissolve the stigma, they would strive to make it cool. The new “cool kids” would be the ones talking about mental health in the dining hall, checking in on one another after class, and creating new spaces where individuals could be seen and heard. The cool kids would make sure everybody knew: “You are not alone.”
A new take on advocacy & community was born. More than a decade later—and thanks to many volunteers, committed Board & Advisory Council Members, events, ideas turned realities, and real community-building later—we’re still here.
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