May 2025
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Spring is in full bloom, and so is our course lineup at the Mindbridge Institute! This May, we’re launching three transformative online experiences designed to support mental health, question systems of power, and foster connection across the ideological divide. These sessions are all donation-based to help support and sustain our ongoing human rights initiatives.
Additionally, the month of May includes multiple days centered around mental health, diversity, and the uplifting of human rights. We hope you join us in continuing the protection and advancement of civil and human rights - the moment has never been more pivotal.
As we recognize Mental Health Awareness Month, AANHPI Heritage Month, as well as several global days of observance centered on press freedom and peacekeeping, we invite you to join us in contributing to protect civil and human rights.
Whether you’re working toward making your voice heard, honing your skills through one of our webinars, or supporting these initiatives another way - together we can foster healing, shift systems of injustice, and reimagine what’s possible in the world of social justice.
Onward,
- The Mindbridge Team
May Program Recap
At the Mindbridge Institute, we’re continuing to offer our sliding-scale public courses, making space for as many people as possible to learn, grow, and connect. Please take a look and join us! We’d also love to hear from you: What topics would you like us to explore in our upcoming offerings? Email us and let us know!
We’re also taking a fresh look at our Inclusion and Belonging Project (IBP), fine-tuning it more closely to the everyday needs of organizations navigating a world that feels like it’s constantly shifting. We’re especially looking to re-prioritize in-person workshops, where we can gather in real time to practice better communication and bridge divides using psychological insights to build stronger, more successful advocacy and sustainable change.
Research Team Updates: Laying the Groundwork for Powerful Collaborations
By Briana Mason, Mindbridge Research Scientist
As the academic year approaches, the Mindbridge Research and Evaluation Department (RED) has seen the growth of two of our interns alongside our research projects. Our interns, Jasper and Divine, have completed their respective programs! We would like to formally congratulate Jasper on completing her year at the University of Southern Maine. We would also like to congratulate Divine on completing a year-long fellowship with the Data Innovation Project.
Along with significant internal growth, the Mindbridge RED has been working overtime to lay the foundations for an impactful external collaboration. Over the next half a year, the Mindbridge RED will support several organizations through the improvement of their scientific endeavors. Providing a framework from several in-house experiments, partnerships, and experiences, the RED will bolster the goals and motivations of other non-profits to do work centered on gender and reproductive equity.
The Healing Racial Trauma Initiative is looking to have our final training sessions with Dr. Janeé Steele in our Culturally Responsive Therapy 11-part Series. We’ve been able to broaden our tollboxes with several cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques that we can use not only in our lines of work but in our everyday lives.
With several opportunities to practice these techniques and activities this space has been an incredibly safe space with the opportunity for gaining insight from others, experience sharing, and plenty of practice for post-training encounters.
At HRTI, as our training series comes to an end we are also going to be having our final Advisory Committee meeting for our first cohort, and we are currently recruiting for our second cohort which will run through the summer to early fall.
This month we will be heavily planning for some up and coming programming for late summer and fall.
Happenings & Events
Introducing: Healing the Frontline, Disrupt & Reclaim, and the Expanded Bridging the Divides Series
These courses explore the science of resistance, resilience, and real human connection. Each of our multi-session course offerings are designed to build on the next, moving from awareness to action, from self-care to systemic change.
Bridging the Divides (Starting this week, May 21st)
A three-part practical and research-based journey into navigating ideological tension with clarity, courage, and compassion.
Register here: 12:00-1:00 PM session
Disrupt & Reclaim (Starting this week, May 22)
A 3-part intensive on narrative power, psychological resistance, and reclaiming our collective stories.
Register here: 6:00-7:00 PM session
Healing the Frontline: Mental Health Tools for Human Rights Advocates
A 90-minute live course on burnout, trauma, and sustainable advocacy, led by Mindbridge’s Founder & Executive Director, Laura Ligouri.
Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 | 12:00-1:30 PM or 6:00-7:30 PM EST
All courses are offered on a sliding scale. We’d love for you to join us on this path. Register today!
Upcoming Days of Observance:
5/1: Start of AANHPI Heritage Month
May kicks off the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. This month aims to celebrate their many achievements and contributions to American history. Check out our Instagram page to see more about how we at Mindbridge are celebrating this month!
5/1: Mental Health Awareness Month
May also marks the beginning of mental health awareness month. As a psychology-based human rights nonprofit, the Mindbridge team recognizes how mental health is an essential part of wellbeing on the individual and collective level. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) notes that mental health is a basic human right for all people. Having a mental health condition should never be a reason for someone to be deprived of their human rights or to be excluded from decisions regarding their own health.
5/3: World Press Freedom Day
The United Nations has recognized May 3rd as World Press Freedom Day since 1993. This day is meant as a reminder of the importance for world governments to respect the independent freedom of the press, fight for professional ethics in media, celebrate the vital functions of journalism worldwide, and pay tribute to those in the field who have died in the line of duty. Freedom of the press is the cornerstone of a strong and functional democracy, making the recognition of this day all the more pivotal in the present landscape.
5/26: Memorial Day
Memorial Day, observed this year on May 26th, honors U.S. service members who have died in the line of duty. Presently, we have seen devastating rollbacks in the recognition of women, BIPOC, and other marginalized service members who have long served, sacrificed, and died for a country that has not always honored them equally. This Memorial Day, it is vital that we remember and pay tribute to all who gave their lives — regardless of race, sex, gender identity, immigration status, or any other identity marker — and recommit to telling the full history of American military service.
5/29: International Day of UN Peacekeepers
Finally, the United Nations acknowledges May 29th as the International Day of UN Peacekeepers. Since 1948, over two million personnel have helped countries transition from war to peace. This vital work includes civilian and military collaboration in order to protect human rights amidst various global conflicts.
