As part of the LEAD program at the University of Windsor, I was granted the opportunity to volunteer outside the school in various events. On November 23, 2015, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Youth Mental Heath Summit in Windsor at the Ciocaro Club. This event was put on through the Canadian Mental Heath Association. This full day event focused on mental heath in teens and was structured in both large group presentations and small break out groups. The day consisted of guest speakers Lionel Sanders and Chelsea Roumaldi. They spoke about their struggles with mental health and being both local to the Windsor area I could see many students connecting with what they had gone through. The day also had smaller break out sessions that focused on how to combat mental heath, how to deal with mental health issues and how students can recognize warning signs of mental health issues. The participants in the events were high school students from the GECDSB, including both county and inner city schools.
My role as a facilitator allowed me to interact with students on a mutual level without the conventions of the classroom at play. I was able to see how mental health affects teens and to see how high school students viewed mental heath. Many students were knowledgeable on the terms and concepts but very few knew how to combat or deal with mental health issues. Being a part of this event, I got to see first hand how high school students think about mental health. I got to share ideas with students, listen to students teach other students and gain knowledge myself of what mental health in teens looks like. The event broadened my own scope when it comes to thinking about mental heath in high school youth and made me more aware of the daily struggles teens face when they enter the classroom. I was able to gain resources, such as activities and worksheets, to use both in the classroom and within the larger school community that I believe will be beneficial to me as an educator in the future. One activity that resonated with me was a creative writing workshop. Students understood how creative writing can be an outlet to express thoughts and emotions and can create peace of mind. It is a reflective practice that allows students to write without judgment of others, and provides a safe space for students to express thoughts. The activity had students write down a colour, an animal, and what type of road they see when envisioning an open road. The colour reflected how people viewed them, the animal represented their spirit animal, and the road represented their view of their own future. Many students were shocked and unable to make connections between their choices and what it revealed about them. Their peers were the ones able to make the connections, with one student identifying the colour purple accurately representing her friends outgoing, fun, and bubbly personality. The connection students were able to make about their peers was amazing. Seeing the students really get into the analysis of each other was a great experience. After they decoded their choices the students were instructed to write a poem using their comparisons as metaphors or similes. It was a wonderful experience to see students sharing in the writing process and discovering things about themselves, via their peers, they did not previously know.
This activity looks at a students view of themselves, which can often be negative, and turns it into a positive wherein they project an image of themselves and their peers can guide that vision in a more positive way. This activity can be done over a whole period or a short 15-minute activity. This activity looks at mental health in a less intrusive way but gets students thinking about their own selves, a crucial step in identifying mental health issues.