As part of the College’s ongoing commitment to promoting positive mental health for all, earlier this week we were delighted to be able to host our first Mental Health & Wellbeing Roadshow!  

The 60 Year 8 students that took part in this event completed group work around what is meant by the terms ‘mental health’ and ‘mental illness’, the importance of connecting with those around us and of both asking for support and supporting others. The students listened to a number of visitors sharing their own lived experiences of significant mental health issues and heard first hand from Helen about what life can be like as a young carer. The roadshow included a session on mindfulness exploring a range of breathing and grounding techniques and there was time for the students to make their own stress balls, clay models and origami. There were lots of opportunities for the students to talk to our guests, ask questions and find out more about the support on offer. The compliments jar that was filled by the students throughout the day helped to spread lots of positivity and kindness and, as ever, the freebies were a firm favourite too! 

A big thank you to Kellie from Unloc for organising and leading the roadshow and to the team from Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, the school nurses, and Helen from the Hampshire Young Carers Alliance for all of their efforts in making this possible. Thank you also to our team of wonderful Year 10 Welfare Prefects whose support at the event was invaluable and very much appreciated by all. 

Here’s what the students had to say about the event: 

I really enjoyed the activities and thought it was a great day! - Mimi W. 

I think it was very fun and I would love to do it again. I think it is very important to do these things in College and could help with a lot of people’s stress in school and teaching people about mental health. - Riley B. 

I loved the range of activities they had and how they help with anxiety and stress. - Sami B. 

I think the roadshow was very eye-opening to a different perspective of people’s mental health. It was a great opportunity to discover more about how some people are affected on a daily basis by certain conditions, and it is important that as a College we promote this. - Kasia W.