Today, Thursday 6 February, is Time to Talk Day. The day is run by Mind and ReThink Mental Illness and runs nationwide. The day is all about creating supportive communities by having conversations with family, friends, or colleagues about mental health.
We all have mental health and by talking about it we can support ourselves and others. Time to Talk Day is the nation’s biggest mental health conversation. Happening every year, it’s a day for friends, families, communities, and workplaces to come together to talk, listen and change lives.
Time to Talk Day is the perfect opportunity to start a conversation about mental health because the more conversations we have, the better life is for everyone. Talking about mental health isn’t always easy and sometimes it’s even harder to say how you really feel.
Here at the College, we recognised this important day with hot chocolate and cookies at breaktime in the Great Hall. Students sat having a chat with each other and it was wonderful to see pupils, and staff, from across the entire College interacting and having a chat about their day.
Interspersed amongst the pupils were our newly appointed Peer Listeners. These Year 13 pupils attended four workshops with Assistant Head (Pastoral) Mrs Dunn where they learned about the many different skills to become a good listener. They also developed these skills through role play sessions, discussion, and other fun activities. This year’s Peer Listeners were announced to the College in Monday’s Whole School Assembly; well done to the following pupils:
- I Davenport-Thomas
- Ben Stokes
- James Lucking
- Sophie Pendlebury
- James Coe
- Lottie Bradley
- Charlotte Hodgkinson
- Jaden Laing-Buck
- Alfie Malcolm
- Katie Proudlove
- Eva Rootkin-Gray
- Theo Sanders
- Belle Sauboua
- Lunn Spence
- Henry Day Clark
- Abby Hutton
- Finlay Rhys Jones
- Sebastian Laing
- Tomos Weighell
- William Bethell
- J Scanlon
- Amelia Westbrook
Peer Listeners are just one of the many schemes here at the College to support our pupils’ health and wellbeing. In the Autumn Term, we launched the HWB (Health and Wellbeing Hub) which is a central point of contact for students to seek support and guidance from managing stress, seeking support for mental health, mindfulness and seeking advice.