From May 6 to 10, the I.E. Weldon Secondary School (IEWSS) Student Administrative Council (SAC), Athletic Union, Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), and staff organized a Mental Health Awareness Week that focused on supporting student mental wellness.
The overall theme of the week aligned with the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Mental Health Week, A Call to be Kind, which centred around the healing power of compassion. Each day of the week had activities to support the day’s theme: feed yourself, access and availability, nature heals, body boost, and mindfulness.
All students were invited to take part in the activities, including:
- Completion of the TLDSB School Climate Survey
- A therapy dog visiting students
- A neon-style Spring Dance
- A complementary grilled cheese lunch
- Outdoor activities, such as drumming, smudging, chalk, and bubbles
- Lunch time activities, such as yoga, crochet, musical meditation, cornhole, colouring/drawing, self care, and bracelet making
- “Caught you being kind” challenge. Anyone “caught” being kind/helping someone had their name entered into a draw to win a prize
On May 7, the school hosted a City of Kawartha Lakes Mental Health Community Fair, which invited 12 local organizations to speak with students about the supports and resources they offer in the community. Students were tasked with completing a “passport” where they had to speak with at least six of the agencies, fill out two things they learned, and list one agency they would contact if they needed support to be entered into a draw to win a prize.
“We felt it was important to invite our community agencies into our building so that students could learn about what our community has to offer,” said IEWSS mental health counsellor, Sarah Burgess. “Most importantly, we recognize that our building provides so much support to our students. Some of our students have key adults in this building who they seek out for help and support for many different things that they are dealing with – academically and non-academically. Summer is only eight weeks away and our hope for this fair was that our students could learn about community agencies and places they could connect with over the holidays to get any support they may need.”
