Student Voice of Mental Health Award Winner Nora Sun on the Power of Peer-to-Peer Support

Nora Sun, a 20-year-old junior at Harvard University and this year’s Student Voice of Mental Health Award undergraduate honoree, brings a powerful, research-driven approach to change-making. Her work is rooted in a core philosophy: Peer-to-peer support and mental health education have the potential to improve — and even save — lives.

That philosophy is backed by Nora’s research, in which she identifies key factors that protect against depression and anxiety in youth. Her work has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Nora takes findings from her research out of academic settings and uses them to inform the strategies of multiple mental health initiatives she established. 

In early 2024, Nora founded mercuri.world, a campus-based mental health nonprofit built on the belief that digital innovation is key to filling gaps in access to mental health care. With over 30 international chapters, mercuri.world volunteers strive to break down language barriers in mental health care by curating and translating an expansive database of mental health resources. So far, the team has translated over 400 screeners, workshops, guides, and more into over a dozen languages. 

Through her work on mercuri.world, Nora found that creating an online space for mental health conversations may help young people overcome awkwardness and embrace vulnerability. She then launched the Little Talks Movement, an online platform that provides peer-to-peer support, cleverly incentivizing mental health conversations among students by offering volunteer hours and recognition.

The Jed Foundation (JED) created the Student Voice of Mental Health Awards to recognize students for their outstanding efforts to raise awareness for mental health issues and encourage help-seeking behaviors in their school communities. The award includes a $3,000 scholarship. Nora and JED’s high school honoree, Rohan Satija, received their awards at JED’s annual gala in New York City on June 4. 

We talked to Nora about her efforts to make peer-to-peer support and mental health education more accessible. 

What does it mean to you to have been selected as the Student Voice of Mental Health Award undergraduate recipient?

I’m truly grateful for this honor. When I began my mental health advocacy work, focusing on digital interventions, much of it felt new and untested. I wasn’t sure how successful these approaches would be. Receiving this recognition for what feels like a newer branch of mental health work is incredibly validating. I plan to use the resources and recognition from this award to further develop evidence-based interventions and support programs for people struggling with their mental health.

You’ve noted that peer support has been incredibly important to your mental health journey, and now you’ve made it your mission to make peer-to-peer support widely available. Can you tell me more about your philosophy on educating peers about how to have mental health conversations?

My approach, both in educating peers and in my broader mental health work, emphasizes a strength-based rather than a deficit-based philosophy. Through my research and experiences, I’ve observed that while the focus on groups with less representation has increased, much of this discourse centers on deficiencies.

Focusing on deficiencies presents both philosophical and practical problems. Philosophically, highlighting only deficits and trauma overlooks the resilience in these communities and the ways in which people are thriving. Practically, concentrating on deficits hinders effective intervention, drawing attention away from improving outcomes through actionable advice and changes within social systems.

When creating educational materials or training peer educators, I focus on imparting skills that enhance mental health outcomes and are culturally responsive. This means recognizing and building upon the specific cultural strengths that bolster mental well-being, rather than dwelling on deficits.

What are your goals for the initiatives you’ve started, as well as your personal advocacy work?

For the Little Talks Movement, we are nearly done translating our resources — websites, training guides, quizzes — into 19 to 20 languages. Our primary goal is to extend the movement’s reach globally, enabling mental health conversations worldwide.

As a biostatistics student at Harvard, I aim to conduct more rigorous studies to identify robust, evidence-based factors for mental health intervention. The field faces challenges: questions about mental health were only recently integrated into large-scale surveys, making long-term quantitative studies quite limited. There is also limited data for some previously underrepresented groups. I intend to apply the advanced statistical techniques I’m learning, including data imputation for handling missing data, to overcome these challenges and uncover more evidence-based insights.

Given your demanding schedule, how do you prioritize and practice self-care and take care of your mental health?

Self-care, to me, involves spending quality time with people I trust and feel close to. I have a tendency to be consumed by my work, but being surrounded by my friends helps shift my perspective and find more balance. They encourage me to view my days less as a list of things to achieve and more as a series of memories to make or experiences to have. Being surrounded by people important to me reminds me that I want to be part of their lives and experiences too. 

Also, my roommate has an emotional support cat named Bianca whom I live with. I love spending time with her; she’s gorgeous, and she’s an important part of my self-care.

If you could offer one piece of advice to a young person struggling with their mental health, what would it be?

Based on my experiences, including working at The Trevor Project and in peer support settings, a very important thing for young people to know is: Start thinking about how to take care of your mental health before you are in a moment of crisis. Many people put it off. But the most important thing is to identify people you trust and can talk to, or steps you can take — things that can calm you down in a moment of panic — before that crisis happens. Like any prevention effort, it can be hard to motivate yourself unless you’re staring the problem in the face, but knowing what to do in case of a mental health crisis — even if you don’t think it will happen to you — is so important.