Project Healthy Minds Sets October Mental Health Events

Project Healthy Minds will hold its fourth annual World Mental Health Day Gala on October 8 and its fifth annual World Mental Health Day Festival on October 10 at Spring Studios in New York City. The free public festival will include conversations, movement, music, creativity and immersive experiences. The gala will honor Chris Barbin, Nespresso and Bill Lawrence.

Festival Program

The October 10 festival is organized around six pillars: Connect, Move, Restore, Reflect, Create and Care. Its program includes Karl-Anthony Towns, Terry Crews, Jonathan Haidt and Nina Westbrook, alongside fitness classes and activities led by Sydney Miller, Kelsey Wells, Becs Gentry, Timm Chiusano, Joe Gonzales and Jack Bauer. Puppy Sphere™ will host a puppy yoga class.

Sessions include Turning Tragedy Into Triumph: New York Knicks Star & NBA Champion Karl-Anthony Towns on Grief, Loss, and High Performance; What Tech Crowds Out with Jonathan Haidt; and Who Am I Now: Getting Ready for Change with Terry Crews.

Gala Honors And Installation

Carson Daly will host the October 8 gala. Chris Barbin, founder and CEO of Tercera, will receive the Humanitarian of the Year Award, while Nespresso will receive the Corporate Visionary of the Year Award. Bill Lawrence will receive the 2026 Storyteller of the Year Award.

Naeem Khan will present Beyond the Glitter, an interactive installation examining fashion and mental health. DJ Samantha Ronson will perform, and the event will also include a musical performance to be announced.

Mental Health Access

Phillip Schermer, Founder and CEO at Project Healthy Minds, said:

“Mental health is not one issue among many facing modern culture. It's the thread running through every other question we're asking about who we are and where we're going.”

“You cannot understand this century through its technology, politics, or economics alone. You have to understand its mindset. That is what we gather to do: put the loneliness epidemic and the return of the run club on the same stage, because they're the same story told twice. Once as the wound, once as the healing. And we do it free and open to anyone, because you don't need a diagnosis to belong in this room.”