The 2025 USC speak your mind ice bucket challenge has taken the internet by storm to raise mental health awareness.
Created by the University of South Carolina’s Mental Health Needs Discussion Club, they began the #SpeakYourMind campaign in March on Instagram. Since then, participants have dumped ice water on their heads and nominated others to do the same. The club partnered with Active Minds, a nonprofit in Washington D.C. that wanted to challenge the stigma around mental health, especially for the youth. So far, the nonprofit has raised over $244,000 with numbers still rising.
However, this is not the first time the ice bucket challenge has been a thing. In 2014 the same challenge was used to spread awareness and gain donations for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS. In 2014 the ALS ice bucket challenge raised $220 million through the ALS Association.
Celebrities, everyday people, students, and even our own Sayreville staff have taken on this challenge. This challenge is only the start of the mental health discussion and hopefully it gives people the confidence to talk to someone if they are struggling.
