Mental health shouldn’t be a topic only talked about in the safety of the shadows in a dark alley. It’s a big topic and sadly enough it is also a big taboo in our society. Suicide is whispered about, depression is often thrown under the rug, panic and anxiety attacks are becoming increasingly normal for students.
“We take our kids for physical vaccinations, dental exams, eye checkups. When do we think to take our – our son or daughter for a mental health checkup?”
-Gordon Smith
On the week of April 20-24, 2015 Notre Dame High School Student Council took a hammer to the wall of stigma and opened up the topic of mental health.
The week consisted of themed days each aimed towards lowering the stress levels and removing the stigma associated with mental illness. The entire week instead of having the same obnoxious bell, they decided to play music to announce class changes instead. They kicked off the week with “Mellow Monday” in which Bob Marley graced the bells with his cover of “Don’t Worry Be Happy”. Students and teachers were invited to wear comfortable clothes – even their pajamas were welcomed.
The following day was “Tenseless Tuesday” where Mount Royal University Massage therapy students came and offered free 10 minute massages for students and teachers during Periods One and Two. Needless to say, the line up was huge. 
“Wellness Wednesday” sought to encourage physical activity in the student body as it’s known to relieve stress and anxiety. Exercise is important to be and stay healthy all around. As a collective, students were invited to take a walk around the pond near the school.
It is important to be kind and realize that everyone might be going through their own hardships. “Thoughtful Thursday” inspired students to give 5 compliments to show support and consideration for others. As the event for the day, yoga sessions were being held in the morning for students who wished to participate.
On “Fun Friday” to wrap up the week and encourage students to have a little fun among all of the responsibility of school and life, students had to pay only $2 to get out of class and watch a special showing of “It’s Kind Of a Funny Story” at the next door cinema. I personally thought the showing of that movie was a perfect way to wrap up the week. It’s Kind of a Funny Story follows a 16 year old diagnosed with depression coping with the stresses of life and growing up. Before the showing, two students from the ND Student Council came and spoke a little bit about why they they planned and executed the week. The council members spoke about how raising awareness and support for those affected by mental illnesses should continue past the week.
Often mental illnesses are talked about in media but they’re often not represented as what they are. Villains are written around their illnesses leaving the individual and their evil doing completely inseparable. This causes the effect of alienating and demonizing those who are affected by these illnesses in real life. Instead of seeking help for certain people or even treating them like people at all, they are cast aside or avoided. Often, we tend to describe people’s quirks as a cause of OCD or sometimes people throw words like schizo and psycho around as insults. Having a mental illness is not an insult, it’s a condition of the mind. This is part of the stigma that must be broken through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pq7HKc9z8
The overall feedback from the students was extremely positive. Praise was said for all of the events including the massages, yoga, and movie. The week had such a big impact that a petition started to go around in the end of the week dubbed “Beyonce Bells.” Students were encouraged to tweet about it with the hash tag conveniently cast as #beyoncebells. It sought to keep music in place of the bells for the remaining of the school year. Students from ND who started the petition gathered over 650 signatures which proved to be enough because as of last Friday, music continues to play through the intercom to announce class changes. This is set to happen every Friday to end each week on a positive note.
The Canadian Mental Health Association’s mental health week is May 4-10, 2015. Perhaps you can do your own mental health week. Have a mellow Monday, a tensless Tuesday, wellness Wednesday, thoughtful Thursday, and a fun Friday. It’s important to take care of yourself physically and mentally because your brain can get sick too. You need to take care of your mental health as much as your physical health.
