- This is surreal.
Oh my god.
- A little surreal. I'm at the White House.
- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome the First Lady
of the United States,
accompanied by the U.S. Surgeon General,
Selena Gomez, and youth mental health leaders.
- Thank you,
and welcome to the White House.
[Audience Cheering]
- Today was an amazing day.
We had youth from around the country who came together
for the youth mental health forum.
And this is so important
because we are trying to build a broader movement
in our country around mental health.
Today was about sharing stories and tearing down stigma.
It was about inspiring people
with the actions that people are taking across the country.
- Once I found out what was going on mentally,
I found there was more freedom for me
to be OK with what I had
because I was learning about it.
- Recovery isn't always the same as healing.
And sometimes the darkness is inside of us, too.
- You're part of history.
You just moderated the first-ever Mental Health
Youth Action Forum.
You have continued to champion this cause,
especially with your Rare Impact Fund.
What does it mean to have this experience
where this initiative has taken you
all the way to the White House?
- If you would've told me
that creating my Rare Impact Fund
would have eventually led me to the White House,
I don't think I would've believed you.
I didn't even know if Rare was going to do well.
I was like, I was hoping for the best
and it was such a beautiful surprise.
And I think the reason why it does so well
is because we do stand behind a message
that is essentially what you heard today.
It's OK to not be OK.
And here are ways that we want
to be there for you
and how to help you.
So, to be here from where I started
is a moment I'll never forget.
- Well, it was fantastic to have Selena here
for the conversation.
Her involvement was very, very important
and we need people like Selena
to step up around the country
and share those stories
and not just stop at awareness.
- It's amazing to see another Latina
on stage having this conversation.
Someone who's not only a very powerful voice
but who's very inspiring
and someone who I identify with very strongly.
- She was one of the very early celebrities
and musicians and artists
to actually talk about mental health
and do it openly and share her journey.
- Tell me about some of the young people
you spoke with today?
What impression did they leave on you?
- More than anything,
I just felt more,
I just felt eager to do more.
I think I'm doing some stuff.
And then I see all these wonderful people doing more,
and abundantly, for their own space.
It's just so beautiful.
- I really wanted to create the space
that I feel like I was lacking.
And so I did just that
by actually bringing back
my Active Minds chapter on my campus
to become the largest student-led
mental health organization on campus.
- My presentation is Mind in Progress
and we are empowering youth voices,
placing youth advocates
at the center of the conversation.
- I started writing letters to strangers,
and it started as a small student club
at my high school
but is today the largest global
youth-for-youth mental health nonprofit.
- We use volunteering and activism
as an alternative coping mechanism,
as opposed to just relying on Western medicine.
- As a transgender immigrant from the Philippines,
we never really have much representation,
especially in the highest seats of power
here in the United States.
I hope it's just a start, you know,
and not the last thing,
that we'll be seeing faces and voices
of people who look and speak like me.
- I feel incredibly hopeful
that we are gonna emerge in a better place
when it comes to our mental health.
Together, I think we can change
the culture on mental health.
We can make people recognize
that this is part of
our overall human experience,
it's part of health,
and if we approach it
with kindness and compassion informed by science,
you know, and backed with the
right investments as a country,
we can make sure care is available to everyone who needs it.
And that's really our moral obligation.
- What inspired you to take part in this forum today?
- I truly feel like the whole reason I'm here
and the whole reason I have success
is to use that for something good.
So I'm proud to say that I get to creatively be myself
and come up with amazing ideas, music, films.
It's so exciting for me,
but at the end of the day,
about 90 percent of my efforts,
it really kind of leads back to Rare Impact
from, you know, having somebody donate for us
or signing on to do something.
But you know, there be a, you know,
a cause of helping mental health.
So I think it's always just been ingrained into my language
and it's something that's important to me.
So I make sure it's prioritized.