Prioritizing Mental Health After Tragedy with a School-Wide Mental Health Field Day: From the Advisors

From the advisors (school counselors): Kaitlyn Robichaud and Courtney Selig This blog was written by Whitman-Hanson Regional High School’s Active Minds advisors about their experience supporting student-led efforts to advance mental health in their community. This is the second of two pieces sharing the story of these students’ advocacy. To read about this journey/story from the perspective of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School students, click here. After coming off of one of the most challenging experiences you can have in a school, the loss of a student to suicide, we knew there needed to be something different. But what? In an amazing moment of coincidence, at the start of the school year a few students came down to the school counseling office saying that they wanted to start a new club at school to focus on kindness and mental health awareness. Talk about “great minds think alike!” We all got to thinking and then our athletic director let us know that he invited Jim Johnson from the Kyle Cares Foundation to come and talk to the administration at the school to provide insight on the different initiatives available to support mental health in schools, and invited us to attend as well. KyleCares, The Kyle Johnson Foundation, provides grants to schools in New England to start an Active Minds Chapter. This partnership between Active Minds and KyleCares has supported the growth of many chapters in the region. During this presentation, Active Minds stood out and we petitioned the superintendent to let us write a grant to start a chapter. There was hesitation at first, was this “too much too soon,” after such a loss, but with the trust in his staff, he gave the go ahead and we instantly got started on the grant funding opportunity. In the very near future, we heard from Kyle Cares that they accepted our grant proposal and were going to help us get our Active Minds Chapter started! The students were thrilled and we instantly got started. Through the brainstorming process of what we wanted to accomplish for the year, one of the main goals was to advocate for a mental health day. Not just a day off, but a day to “disconnect to connect,” and have some “old school fun.” The students explained it in a way that made sense, just because we are in high school doesn’t mean we don’t want to have fun, we miss the elementary school days of looking forward to field day and “playing” with everyone for a day. So why not bring that back? In order to make it happen, we knew we would have to show the how and the why. We presented twice at the school committee meetings. Our first presentation was to inform the school committee members, as well as the community, who we are, why we started this chapter, and outlined some of the goals we had for the school year. This also included showing one of the PSA videos the students had created and shared school wide to create a more positive, help seeking school culture. The school committee was in full support right away and asked that we come back again later in the year to present again, and to let them know how they can be of help/support. We accomplished so many things along the way: PSA videos, mental health awareness nights at sporting events, welcome sign Wednesday, pocket hugs, fundraisers and more. We started having Active Minds “family dinners” as a way to connect outside of the school day, in a comfortable setting in order to navigate more challenging conversations. Our first focus was on grief, everyone was still going through it and there was a lot of challenge in the school going through the “year of firsts” without their friend/peer. In a way to connect on a different level, the students invited not only staff, but the superintendent to attend these dinners and be part of the conversation. Not only did some staff attend, but the superintendent came, shared, listened, and was by his own account, “blown away.” After this we attended the annual KyleCares Conference and were inspired by their keynote speaker, Frank Warren, author and creator of PostSecret. We created our own Whitman-Hanson version of PostSecret: the mental health version, and students would share their “secrets” in regards to their experience with mental health. We created a video to share with the school committee. After showing our video, the students advocated for themselves, explaining that mental health is a priority, that we need to continue to support it and that this video was only a snippet of 8 stories from students. Can you imagine if every student, and staff, shared their story? After multiple meetings, presentations and brainstorms, and after seeing the overwhelming support from the school committee, we presented the idea of a Mental Health Field Day to our high school administration. This was given the “go ahead” and the administration began supporting and helping with the planning process. Once there was an outline of what the day could possibly be, we presented it to the superintendent. “Yes. Let’s do it. It will be bumpy and challenging, filled with positive and negative, acceptance and resistance, but everyone needs this, students and staff, so let me know how I can help and what we need to do.” Let’s go! We are the Panther’s, so we presented the staff with the challenge of presenting some of their “Panther Passions,” that they could share with the students. This came with a survey they completed with some of their favorite passions, things they could do during the Mental Health Field Day with students in order to connect on a different level doing something they love. The array of options we were able to present to the students was nothing less than incredible. There was something for everyone: Mental Health Field Day Activities Lawn Games (Ping Pong, Cornhole, Giant Jenga, Giant Connect 4, and more!) Organized Team Games (Kick Ball, Wiffle Ball, Football, Soccer) Outdoor Adventure (Walking, Hiking, Fishing, Camping) Music (Songwriting, Singing, Playlists, Playing Instruments Gaming (Tabletop RPGs, Board Games, Dungeons and Dragons) DIY (Blacksmithing, Woodworking, Planting, Gardening, Refinishing furniture, Repurposing items) Self Care (Meditation, Drawing, Yoga, Journaling, Reading, Martial Arts) Craft Corner (Cooking, Crafting, Collages, Decorating, Calming Jars, Rock Painting, Puzzles) Video Games (just like the title says) Dunk tank (mental health fundraiser) Everyone. And I mean EVERYONE had an amazing day. “I have underestimated your ability to make an impact. Today was an outstanding day. Each student I spoke to was having a great time with peers and staff members. Because of your efforts you made today a memorable day for the students of WH. Thank you for going outside your comfort zone, participating, and supporting Mental Health Day at WH, sponsored by Active Minds and the Counseling Department. I am proud to be the Superintendent of such an amazing, versatile, committed, ( I could go on and on) team.” “Thank you for all your effort for today. It really was a great day and I already can’t wait to plan an activity for next year!” “What a great day. Thank you for making it happen.” "Yesterday was so fun! We need to do that again. It was fun, there was a lot to do, it wasn't crowded at the activities, and it was just so much fun.” “Thanks for making this happen! I had a good time and I forged bonds with some sophomores who I may have next year!!! Thank you!” “I don’t think I looked at my phone once, I love that, it was so fun” “Can we do this more than once a year, what a feel good day. I feel refreshed and happy.” “This is why I went into this profession, days like today, it made me remember why.” “It was fun and flexible. I loved trying new things, meeting teachers I normally wouldn’t have, feeling like we were trusted and just enjoying being off my phone and hanging out with my friends.” “It was nice not feeling like I had to stay home from school if I needed to focus on myself and my mental health. This kept me busy and feeling happy and distracted, if I was home I probably would have been bored or in bed.” If I could share all of the feedback it would write a book! But for now, this was our journey and how we made it happen. Everyone is already geared up and ready for “Mental Health Field Day 2.0.” It has been designated by the superintendent as an annual event moving forward.

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