WASHINGTON – Compass Coffee today announces its role as a founding partner in the first-ever Mental Health Action Day, to be held on Thursday, May 20 in partnership with more than 1,000 leading brands, nonprofits, government agencies, and cultural leaders.

“We are thrilled to be a founding partner of the first national Mental Health Action Day,” said Max Deem, VP of Operations. “I think it’s important to acknowledge how challenging this past year has been for everyone and to recognize the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our mental health. We believe Mental Health Action Day’s initiative to drive our culture from mental health awareness to action is exactly what our community needs in order to take care of each other and build long-term resilience.”

Mental Health Action Day is an open-source movement of brands, organizations and leaders like Compass to drive culture from mental health awareness to mental health action. The first Mental Health Action Day encourages and empowers people to take mental health action—whether for themselves, for their loved ones, or for their community. (Learn more at www.MentalHealthActionDay.org.)   

“At Compass, our mission is always to make people’s days better,” Deem said. “Providing the tools, and encouraging each other to take actionable steps to improve our mental health will only help us in the pursuit of our mission, for our teams and customers alike.”

To that end, Compass is opening the doors of its Georgetown café (located at 1351 Wisconsin Avenue) for a free and public day of action on mental health. We will be partnering with Electric Collective to host a day of mindfulness, meditation, and coffee.

“To no surprise, this year has been incredibly hard on all of us,” said Heather Marshall, Café Manager for the 1351 location that will be hosting the day of activation. “But being in the unique position of barista during this time has been immensely powerful. We have been able to commiserate with our regulars on hard days and celebrate all their wins together. As we’ve reopened, we’ve seen our café become a community gathering space where friends and family are able to meet in person and help lighten each other’s burdens over a cup of coffee, something I’m proud to be a part of.”

As Marshall indicated, being a founding partner of Mental Health Action Day is a particular point of pride for our teams. As part of delivering on one of Compass’s core values, Build Your City, bridging the gap between talking about mental health and taking action to build better mental health practices is something we are deeply passionate about.

“With the unprecedented challenges of the past year, it has been important to find the victories in the little things,” said Jessica Hubbard, District Manager. “I have seen my teams celebrate those victories one by one with our customers, and this week is no exception. Being able to host an event, especially for something as important as Mental Health Action Day, is not only impactful for our teams, but for our community. I am proud and excited to be a part of something so important, and I look forward to being able to do more events in the future.”

Supporting Mental Health Action Day, we felt, is critical, especially now. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the crisis, giving way to what many mental health professionals have called the “second pandemic.” Though more people than ever are comfortable discussing mental health, finding effective resources and knowing how to get help remains a challenge. This is why we are excited to be a founding partner of this important initiative along with other regional and international brands, many of whom are our neighbors at our twelve cafés across the DMV.

“From Covid-19 to economic struggles and the continuing fight for racial justice, the other half of the twin pandemic is the rise of our mental health challenges,” said Erika Soto Lamb, Vice President of Social Impact Strategy at MTV Entertainment Group, a founding organizer of Mental Health Action Day. “This is a critical moment to shift our culture from mental health awareness to mental health action and MTV is proud to come together with diverse cross-sector leaders on this inaugural day to encourage and empower people to take action—for themselves, for their loved ones or for the systemic changes needed to improve our social and emotional wellbeing.”

As part of our mission to make people’s days better, our cafés are always accessible as gathering places in their communities where people can meet up, share stories, and connect with one another. We look forward to continuing to find new ways to support the community and spread awareness about mental health action. 

“Whether it’s through cups of coffee, fostering communal spaces in cafés, or actionable initiatives to address the mental health crisis in the community, Compass always prioritizes the people it serves,” said Emma Francois, a writer with the Creative Team. “I hope people feel inspired to make a change this Mental Health Action Day—perhaps through mindfulness, advocacy, or chatting up a barista—however mental health action looks like for you.”

More on Mental Health Action Day and a current list of partners can be found here.

Compass Coffee is a Washington, DC-based Coffee Roaster. Founded in 2014 by two Marines, Michael Haft and Harrison Suarez, Compass has 12 brick and mortar locations around the Washington Metro Area, one active roasting facility in DC's historic Shaw neighborhood, and a growing regional grocery presence. You can find Compass Coffee at many popular DC restaurants, in corporate break rooms, and in government facilities. Currently, Compass is building a state-of-the-art production facility in Ivy City to support its expansion through the entire Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and beyond.