Eat Ice Cream, Guilford, And Support Mental Health Awareness

GUILFORD, CT — In early April, Ashley's Ice Cream partnered with the Guilford High School Mental Health Club BC2M Mental Health Awareness Alliance to raise mental health awareness.

And they did it in a sweet, and very Ashley's Ice Cream, way.

The creamery with locations in New Haven, Hamden, Branford, Madison and Guilford, known as being the best in the state, asked customers and fans to submit ideas for a new ice cream flavor that would both delight ice cream lovers and raise awareness. The idea was to come up with flavor combinations that would be yummy but also have names that were mental health-related.

The winning flavor would be made by Ashley's Ice Cream and all of the profits from the sale of the flavor in the last two weeks of May at the Guilford location of the ice cream cafe would go to the student-created Mental Health Awareness Alliance. May is Mental Health Month.

The suggestions came pouring in but ultimately, it came down to two: Self Care-amel Surprise, sweet cream ice cream with caramel swirl and brownie dough pieces, and Don’t be Blue-berry Pie, blueberry ice cream with graham pie crust swirl.

One of the founders of the hard-fought effort to create a club at Guilford High School that would help raise awareness and reduce mental heath stigma, GHS senior Addie Kenney, said the goal of the 'Create-a-Flavor' contest with Ashley’s was to "give people an easy and delicious way to start a conversation about mental health and any challenges they might be facing."

"We hope conversation starters like this will help de-stigmatize mental health by making talking about mental health part of everyone’s daily conversations," she said.

And so Thursday, after votes had been tallied, the contest result was in.

"We’ve chosen to end the contest in a tie to symbolize the fact that mental health is all about achieving balance in life," Kenney said.

In its Facebook post, Ashley's Ice Cream noted that both flavors would be featured.

"We all need to support each other and work together, so we’re highlighting both finalists for the rest of May in our Guilford location," the post reads adding that it hopes folks will visit the student BC2M Mental Health Awareness Alliance Instagram page "as it’s loaded with great info and resources that just might help you or a loved one in need."