Last October, students at Goodfellow Public School participated in a special Mental Health Week event.
There were special guests and speakers brought in to the Alcona school, displays and hands-on activities created by the students to share coping skills and strategies, and hallways decorated with posters and thronged with kids, sharing their insights into what constitutes mental health.
But things are different this year.
Schools, which closed back in March, reopened in September with new restrictions on student interactions. Everything has been governed by pandemic precautions and protocols.
With classes separated into ‘cohorts,’ and bans on social gatherings, it was impossible to hold the same kind of awareness event that took place back in 2019. At the same time, the stress and anxiety facing students has been at an all-time high.
That’s when the school’s Mental Health Team, “inspired by a parent,” came up with the idea of a Mental Health Walk, said Principal Sean Cappadocia.
On Oct. 30, Junior and Intermediate classes at the school, carrying hand-made signs promoting mental health awareness and sharing positive messages, left the school in cohorts, to walk through the surrounding neighbourhood.
Some wore Halloween costumes; others wore orange and black - but all were encouraged to wear face masks, as they walked along 25 Sideroad, then turned up Jack Crescent, Warrington Way, to Leslie Drive and back.
All along the route, they were with honking horns as motorists showed their support.
It was, for the moment, a return to the normal. Students could dress up for Halloween, share their thoughts on mental health, enjoy a walk on a crisp fall day, and help raise awareness of an important issue.
“A return to calm,” said Cappadocia – and certainly a boost to mental health.
