Note to Self: Small Steps Create Big Impact
Year 1 (2025-26)
by Malitta Dillard
Note to Self: A guided journal that helps you slow down, reflect, and reconnect with yourself. Through simple prompts and gentle reminders, it creates a safe space to process your thoughts and dreams
About This Idea
I’m building Note to Self, a guided mental health journal created to help students slow down, reflect, and reconnect with themselves. Through simple prompts and gentle affirmations, it offers a safe, private space to process emotions, navigate difficult moments, and recognize the quiet strength that’s already within them. This idea comes from a deeply personal place. When I was 18 my boyfriend was murdered at a graduation party, leaving me in deep grief. In the years that followed, I struggled to make sense of my grief and the emotional chaos that came with it. I didn’t know how to ask for help, and I didn’t always feel like there was space for what I was carrying. What did help me was writing and leaving myself small notes of encouragement, reminders to breathe, and words I needed to hear when everything felt heavy. Those notes became a lifeline. They became my strength when I couldn’t find it anywhere else. Students today face overwhelming levels of stress, anxiety, and unspoken pain. Many never seek help because of stigma, long waitlists, or the belief that their struggles aren’t “big enough.”
Note to Self: Mental Health Journal bridges that gap by giving them an accessible, judgment-free tool they can use anytime to support their mental wellbeing. It’s a resource built from lived experience designed to meet students exactly where they are, and to remind them that even in their hardest moments, there is a strength within them worth holding onto.
Where Did This Idea Spark at WMU?
The idea for Note to Self Mental Health Journaling originally came from my experience working in psychiatric hospitals, where I saw firsthand how important reflection and self-care were for mental health. When I enrolled at Western Michigan University, I wanted to shift that concept to focus more on supporting students, giving them a practical tool to process their thoughts and prioritize their well-being.
Impact in Kalamazoo
If Note to Self succeeds, the entire Kalamazoo community wins. Students win, because they gain an accessible mental-health tool they can use anytime something especially meaningful in a city where many young people face real stress, loss, instability, and pressure. Note to Self gives them a private space to cope, reflect, and build resilience without needing an appointment, insurance, or the courage to walk into a counseling center. WMU wins, because this project strengthens student wellbeing, retention, and academic performance. When students feel grounded and supported, they stay in school, stay engaged, and stay connected to campus life. Kalamazoo Public Schools and local youth programs win, because Note to Self can easily expand into workshops, school partnerships, and community initiatives where mental health resources are often stretched thin. Teens navigating grief, trauma, or difficult home environments would finally have a tool created with empathy and lived experience.
How Investment Helps
Funding from Cultivate 269 would allow Note to Self to move from a meaningful idea to a scalable mental-health resource that can actually reach students where they are. With investment, I can professionally design, print, and distribute the first large batch of journals, something impossible to do at scale on my own. Right now, Note to Self exists as a concept shaped by personal experience and prototypes. With funding, it becomes a Kalamazoo-rooted wellness tool that can be placed directly into the hands of students, teens, and young adults who need support the most. The first milestone I will hit in Kalamazoo is the launch of a WMU Note to Self Pilot, where I will distribute the first 500–1,000 journals directly to students. These will be introduced through WMU Counseling Services, RSO wellness events, residence halls, First-Year Experience programs, cultural and identity-based student organizations, and the Kalamazoo Promise Scholars programs.
What I'll Do With the Money
Journal production – $40,000 – Print and assemble a large batch of journals to scale the business.
Marketing & outreach – $25,000 – Run social media campaigns, influencer collabs, and community events to grow awareness.
Business operations – $20,000 – Cover packaging, shipping, software tools, and other operational needs.
Workshops & community events – $15,000 – Host journaling workshops and local events to engage the audience and build the brand.
About the Founder
I’m Malitta Dillard, a higher education and student affairs graduate student at Western Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After seeing the power of reflection in psychiatric hospitals, I created Note to Self Mental Health Journaling to help students process their thoughts, reduce stress, and prioritize mental health. I was always scared to advocate for myself and take back my strength, and this opportunity gives me the chance to help students do the same.