Today is World Mental Health Day, a worldwide initiative for mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. Here’s how staff and pupils at Shiplake College have got involved this week.
On Sunday 6 October a group of Year 13 students took part in the Spartan Run, a five kilometre race overcoming 20 obstacles which ranged from carrying atlas balls, scaling heights, jumping over fire and swimming through lots and lots of mud! They took on the challenge in aid of Young Minds, a mental health charity for teenagers. M Jobson, one of the pupils who took on the challenge, said “The team believes mental health is such a topical issue within our generation as we have seen the damaging effects that it can bring. By supporting this charity we were hoping to raise some much needed funds but also spread awareness amongst our peers as mental health should be an issue that is discussed openly in our modern society.” The team, consisting of G Head, W Richards, M Jobson, A Hallam, L Stalder and J
Walne, has already raised a fantastic £765 and their fundraising page is still open, you can donate to their cause here.
Ten students devoted a day last week to be trained as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors; the pupils and staff went to a conference at Leighton Park School where they discussed different types of bullying and approaches which could be used in specific scenarios. The team then looked at how they could spread a positive message at Shiplake and started to devise a campaign which can be rolled at the College. All seemed up for the challenge and look forward the prospect of putting it in place.
Some of our A Level Psychology students took part in an event at Madejski Stadium in Reading this week, helping to run and referee a series of football matches, organised by Sport in Mind, aimed at promoting mental health through sport. Back at the College the Psychology students have also been sharing their research on the topic of mental health with younger pupils.
This week in tutor time, staff and pupils have been addressing mental health issues and discussing ways of improving mental health, not only within themselves ensuring their mind is in the correct framework, but also within others finding out ways in which they can help. The whole school will be re-engaging with #3GoodThings, reflecting on what has gone well for them and things of which they are proud. To keep up to date on this and all the other things we do in regards to student welfare, follow our welfare page on Twitter @ShiplakeWelfare.
Mental health awareness plays a major role in modern society, becoming a significant topic of debate across the UK and something which is no longer taken lightly. Understanding the significance of mental health is so important, it is this understanding we want for our pupils, not only for their own benefit but also to promote empathy for other people’s mental health and what they can do to help.
We all have such busy lives, things can get overwhelming and we sometimes forget about the mental health of those around us. So from everyone here at Shiplake College, we would like to ask you to do one thing… Have a conversation, with a family member, a friend, a co-worker or even someone you don’t know that well. Ask them how they are, what is going well and what is not going so well. Opening up about mental health will make it easier to deal with. A conversation may only seem like a small effort in the scheme of things but if everyone helps then all of these small efforts accumulate to a greater good.
If you’d like some more information please visit http://bit.ly/3243CWv
