Florida Tech Student Honored for Activism in Mental Health Awareness

MELBOURNE, FLA. – Florida Institute of Technology doctoral student, Ryan Barnett, recently won Active Minds’ Student Leader of the Year award for his contributions to raising mental health awareness. He was chosen from at least 2,000 Active Minds executive board members nationwide. Most notable of Barnett’s efforts was his implementation of the Know Somebody campaign, which put Active Minds, the university’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and other mental health resource information on refrigerator magnets in campus residence halls.

Brevard native Barnett grew up in Indian Harbour Beach. He is a fourth-year clinical psychology doctoral student and four-year member of Florida Tech’s surf team, which is ranked sixth in the nation. Barnett also serves as a practicum student therapist at (CAPS). He earned the Treasurer the Year award for his active involvement in the local chapter of Active Minds during the 2011-2012 academic year.

Active Minds Inc. is a non-profit organization geared towards advocating mental health awareness and improvement among college students, and young adults. There are 380 Active Minds chapters in the United States and Canada. Of these chapters, most have 5-7 executive board members who are eligible for this award. For more information about Active Minds visit www.activeminds.org.

CAPS, a resource for Florida Tech students, provides counseling, assessment and psychiatric services as well as crisis intervention. For information about CAPS visit www.fit.edu/caps.