Chapters

The Gray Matters Collective is growing. With our roots set at Augustana College in Illinois, we hope to start new TGMC Chapters in high schools, colleges, and workplaces around the country.

We have chapters in many local Quad Cities high schools and colleges in Illinois and Iowa.

  • Alleman High School

  • AlWood High School

  • ASPIRE Education Center

  • Augustana College

  • Bettendorf High School

  • Black Hawk College

  • Cambridge High School

  • Davenport Central

  • Davenport West High School

  • East Moline Public Library

  • First Responders Chapter

  • Fulton High School

  • Geneseo High School

  • Healthcare Chapter

  • Illinois State University

  • Kewanee High School

  • Knoxville High School

  • Mercer County High School

  • Moline High School

  • Muscatine Community College

  • Orion High School

  • Pleasant Valley High School

  • Prophetstown High School

  • Riverdale High School

  • Riverdale Middle School

  • Rock Island (Rocky) High School

  • Rockridge High School

  • Scott Community College

  • Sherrard High School

  • St. Ambrose University

  • Veterans Chapter

  • Western IL University

  • Wethersfield High School

 

With The Gray Matters Collective, we give you the tools, knowledge, and training you need to help students thrive. We believe that mental health IS health, just as physical health IS health. We give resources to help students get the right help they need. We educate students on how to help themselves and others. We create a safe community for students to thrive and get to know themselves and their peers better. 

We are a collective of people trying to make the world a better place.

Students involved learn skills that will help them not only personally, but professionally. They learn how to lead with compassion, network with other schools, and handle stress, anxiety, or depression in a healthy way.

Goals:

How:

If you're interested in starting a Gray Matters chapter at your local high school, college, or workplace - please send us an email or message us on social media. We would love to talk about how our chapter can best serve your school.

The next step would be to get approval from administration and the school's board of directors. Following that, we would identify 4-5 (or more) student leaders to train on mental health awareness, how to run the chapter, success plan, and more.

Four women pose behind a gray matters collective table
Augustana students pose behind a gray matters table promoting mental health on campus.
A women poses with a sign supporting mental health and The gray matters collective in front of a table on a college campus. .

Student voices:

"For me, it's kind of a safe place at school. A lot of people my age don't have that, and I feel like The Gray Matters gives somewhere for us to go and not be judged for our mental health battles."

Parker Terronez, Moline High School

 

"For Orion, it’s meant that there is a finally a place we can create to talk about everyone’s struggles and to acknowledge that mental health doesn’t discriminate. Everyone has a brain and if you’ve experienced any kind of stress, especially this past year, you’ve experienced a mental health issue. By normalizing pain you cannot always see, we can save lives!"

Hayley Vanduyne, Orion High School

 

“I am a part of The Gray Matters Collective because I want to help people to engage in conversations about mental health in a safe space. Personally, I have mental health issues and feel that The Gray Matters is helping people to connect and discuss these topics in a way that is relatable and inspiring. During the pandemic, I was also battling cancer, and my mental health was suffering. The Gray Matters was a reminder during these times that I wasn’t alone in feeling the way that I did.”

Brie Kunstman, Augustana College