About
Mind Blossom
Making the World a Better Place For All of Us
Our Story
But Mind Blossom is not the story of a single person. Mind Blossom is ultimately the result of long conversations among people who are passionate about preventing and combating mental illness. In 2023, those conversations turned into action.
Join us in creating a better place for all of us.
Our Mission
Mind Blossom strives to prevent and combat mental illness through mental health education and fostering community support.
We integrate humanity with science by using mental health education, an evidence based method, to empower people’s understanding of their own and others’ physical and mental wellbeing. Through lectures, discussions, and practice people build up a repertoire of positive coping mechanisms, rendering them better at dealing with current stressors and more resilient to future ones. Thus, the overall mission of Mind Blossom is two-fold: enabling individuals and empowering community support.
Mind Blossom is dedicated to thinking outside the box and incorporating scientifically validated methods and technology to support continued mental health education and fostering continued community support.
Our Vision
Mind Blossom envisions a world where mental health education is integrated into schools and companies with the aim to prevent and reduce mental illness. Similar to the mission, this vision is two-fold: Mind Blossom envisions a world where an individual has the general knowledge to understand their feelings, thoughts and sensations from a personal and scientific perspective. In parallel, we envision a world where the community (friends, family, community centers) can serve as reliable support for individuals struggling with mental illness.
Mind Blossom envisions this world to rely on evidence-based methods, including technology, education, and group-activities, to continuously support individuals and communities thrive.
What we do at Mind Blossom
Weekly mental health education sessions
Join our weekly in-person or virtual sessions crafted to empower individuals of all ages. Gain practical knowledge, communication skills, and coping strategies for enhanced mental well-being.
Workshops
Join our intensive one or two-day workshops, focusing on specific mental health challenges. Gain empowerment through knowledge, enhanced communication skills, and practical coping strategies.
Conversation facilitation
Enhance the mental health of your community by fostering communication skills and coping strategies through weekly conversations facilitated by mental health experts. These group sessions are complemented by educational sessions held weekly.
Consultation on best practices
Engage our experts to identify challenges and formulate action plans aimed at enhancing your team’s mental health and preventing the onset of mental illnesses.
Let’s start empowering people
Let us bring our enthusiasm and passion to you.
The Statistics in the US
Suffer from Mental illness
Die from suicide annually
attempt suicide annually
children suffer from mental illness
%
rate work as their main source of stress
%
higher risk for cardiovascular disease in people with depression
did not receive treatment for their mental illness
of youth with mental illness whose insurance does not cover mental illness treatment
The Mind Blossom Team
Founding Team
Pernille Bülow, PhD
Leading Founder
Obi Onochie, PhD
Founding Member
Wesley Updike
Founding Member
Leadership and Officers
Pernille Bülow, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Iulia Nandrea
Chief Marketing Officer
Sushma Srinivisan, MS
Head of Programming
Aramie Bloom
Compliance Officer
Morgan DiPrimo
Outreach Officer
Consultants
Brittany Augugliaro, MSW & LMSW
School Programming Consultant
Jessica Hiltz
School Programming Consultant
Danielle Balogh, MS
Marketing Consultant
Mona Miao, EdM
School Programming Consultant
Galina Tyukhtina, MA & LAMFT
School Programming Consultant
Interns
Justin Kalinay
Community outreach & Education Intern
Isaiah Farley
Outreach Intern
Michelle Yamamoto
Outreach Intern
Grace VanOort
Outreach Intern
Carina Filemyr
Ambassador Program Manager Intern
Kelley Wells
Grant Writing Intern
Sophie Shea
Grant Writing Intern
Anna Hodell
Grant Writing Intern
Gigi Jarvis
Creative Intern
Krystal Rivera
Creative Intern
Nikita Madhavaram
Health Communications Intern
Vanice Buie
Creative Intern
Prathysha Kothare
Education Intern
Ava Duskic
Research Intern
Board of Directors
Pernille Bülow, PhD
Board President
Obi Onochie, PhD
Board Secretary
Wesley Updike
Board Treasurer
Thomas Costello, PhD
Board Member
Aramie Bloom
Board Equity and Diversity Overseer
Iulia Nandrea
Board Member
Mind Blossom’s Organization Structure
Nonprofit registration
Mind Blossom is a registered 501(c)3 Public Charity Organization with Tax ID number: 92-2178954
Nonprofit Cause
Mind Blossom’s major mission is to further the cause of mental health education in schools (K12 and colleges) and community centers, and all profits obtained will be reinvested in this cause.
Nonprofit compensation
Given its nonprofit status, Mind Blossom does not have any shareholders. Board members and advisors are not financially compensated for their positions.
Profits, Donations & Reports
Where does your money go
All profits from services and all donations are reinvested into developing mental health education programming for financially insecure schools and community centers.
Decide where your donations go
Mind Blossom is dedicated to make an impact in your local area. When you donate 1000$ or more, we will reinvest our profits in your local area (state or region).
When you donate 3000$ or more, we give you the option to decide which specific school or specific area we should dedicate our pro bono services to.
Know where your money went
We release quarterly newsletter that state where we have worked either as a service or pro bono activity. In this newsletter we also state how much money we received in donations and exactly how we have spent them.
A Letter from the Founder
Mental illness is hard. Because of mental illness we cry, we lose loved ones, we die. Scientists have spent decades finding ways to treat mental illness, and we have taken enormous strides. Instead of cutting out people’s frontal lobes, we can now combat mental illness through evidence-based talk therapy and medications. We are even entering an era that resembles sci-fi more than normal reality: some people with treatment-resistant depression and suicidality now have electrodes implanted in their brain which literally changes the activity of their brain cells, and ultimately relieves their feelings of despair. These leaps are enormous and absolutely worthy of celebration. Thankfully, newspapers and pop-science books have done a fantastic job at bringing this knowledge to the people.
But what about preventing mental illness before it even takes place? It is generally known that to maintain your own and other’s mental wellbeing, you should treat each other kindly, refrain from physical and physiological abuse, and live a healthy lifestyle. While these are legitimate and useful strategies they have not prevented the sour increase in mental illness that affects every living human being in all socioeconomic and demographic areas. We need something different and we need it now. So what are actual implementable and scalable ways of creating preventative programs for mental illness?
Before answering that we have to ask another question: what are evidence-based ways of preventing mental illness? I have been steeped in psychology and neuroscience research for over a decade and, honestly, the research on this seemingly obvious question is scarce. But there is one thing we know works. It actually works so well that psychiatrists and therapists consistently use it as a part of evidence-based treatment approaches and it is used in the military to prevent PTSD. What is this holy grail of mental illness prevention? It’s mental health education (also known as psychoeducation and mental health literacy). You can read more about mental health education here, but what I want you to consider right now is that mental health education is one of the few evidence-based approaches to prevent mental illness. On top of that, it also reduces existing mental illness symptoms. It’s a win-win. Sadly, this method is not generally available to people, at least not to all people.
Mental health education can be given to groups of people (and not just one at a time as most therapy sessions), it does not require a prescription, it is cheap, and it can be provided anywhere regardless of technical amenities. Mental health education is such a simple solution it almost seems too good to be true. So why is mental health education not implemented in schools, companies, and any organization that seriously wants to prevent mental illness among their target group?
This was a question I grappled with for years, and in 2022 an idea slowly started forming. In 2023, that idea became reality in the shape of Mind Blossom. I have assembled an incredible team of people with diverse backgrounds and personal stories, and we are passionate about bringing mental health education to the people. I hope you will join us in these efforts.
Our Partners
They’re obsessed with scaling [mission-driven] organizations into their fullest potential, while putting their people at the heart of what they do
Recoverlution is a virtual community platform for addiction recovery. On their platform, you can virtually connect with people sharing the experience of addiction and easily connect with the resources that best support your recovery.
Counseling Space, PC is a mental health practice that strives to improve the wellness of individuals, communities, and organizations through advocacy, counseling, and education.
Butterfly Counseling Services was established with the vision of making mental health services affordable and accessible to a diverse client population. Butterfly Counseling Services is also committed to challenging the stigma of receiving mental health services.
Our Sponsors
With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world’s largest online therapy platform, facilitating over 5,000,000 video sessions, voice calls, chats, and messages every month. They set out on a mission to make sure everyone has easy, affordable, safe, and discreet access to high-quality therapy. Since 2013, their licensed and accredited therapists have helped more than 3,000,000 people face life’s challenges and improve their mental health.
BetterHelp gratiously sponsors Mind Blossom’s ability to increase accessibility to mental health care and education to underserved communities.
Give Today
Mind Blossom reinvests all donations and profits into mental health education programs and services for schools and community organizations with financial insecurities. You can decide where your money goes.
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Get In Touch
Boston, Massachusetts
USA
info@mindblossom.org