Youth Mental Wellness Initiative
Story from Castanet News, by Deborah Pfeiffer, Jan. 24th
The Penticton Rotary Club is partnering with School District 67 to create a program focused on enhancing mental wellness amongst youth in the community. The goal of the program is to reduce the stigma attached to mental health issues through open dialogue and community support as well as create resources for youth, parents and teachers to contribute to mental wellness.
“Anxiety, depression, bi-polar issues, ADHD, eating and other stress related disorders affects approximately 25 per cent of our school population and this is about the same provincially and nationally,” said Sandra Richardson, vice principal of Princess Margaret Secondary School. “It affects the student’s ability to study and has a direct correlation on their ability to graduate. It also impacts teachers and makes class room management challenging.”
The Rotary Club is spearheading this initiative with Milton Orris and Brian Hughes representing Rotary. The initiative is two years in length and the goal is to get a dialogue going between youth, parents, teachers and the community around mental wellness through speakers, workshops and the development of resources for the stakeholders.
The project will kick off on Feb. 17 at the Cleland Theatre with TED speaker Kevin Breel coming to Penticton. Kevin’s TED Talk “Confessions of a Depressed Comic” has been viewed nearly 2 million times on TED.com. The evening talk is at 7 p.m. and is open to the general public. Community resources supporting mental wellness will be available to continue conversations and provide support after Breel's talk. Breel will also share his search for mental wellness with students at Princess Margaret prior to the evening event. After the talk, students will return to their classrooms to engage in conversations with teachers on achieving positive mental health.
In addition to this event, other student mental wellness supports are beginning to take shape through peer mentorship programs and teacher collaboration, all possible through the partnership with Rotary. The student centered pilot program is already spreading to other schools, as 35 students from all three high schools in the district will be attending the youth centered, Balancing Our Minds event, where they will learn to become champions of mental wellness at their respective schools. It is the intention that strategies and resources developed in this pilot year can be implemented at schools throughout the district in the coming years. Education material for parents and students will be available in a variety of mediums, from smartphones to websites to print materials.
This initiative aims to support parents in knowing how to access resources and develop tools to support their children as they navigate through a variety of mental wellness challenges that are often a part of growing up. Knowing what signs to look for can help a parent know how to respond and when to ask for help. For more information, call (250) 770- 1200.