Wagga Wagga Youth Mental Health Forum

 On the 6th of June, 7 students from Year 9 and Year 11 attended the Wagga Wagga Youth Mental Health Forum at Wagga Wagga Christian College. Approximately 200 students from around the region came together to discuss the importance of taking care of your Mental Health. Students engaged in a variety to activities to push them out of their comfort zone such as a speed dating style conversation with new people. The point of this experience was to highlight that often conversations are awkward but in the real world we need to have awkward chats, so the more we practise these the easier it becomes. Students heard from a panel of mental health experts including counsellors from Headspace and psychiatrists working in the public health sector, and were able to ask them any questions. In the final activity for the day, students from St Anne’s worked as a group to come up with some mental health initiatives we can run at school to help promote student well-being. Watch this space over the next 12 months as we take them from ideas to reality! Students conducted themselves with great maturity and even in the most uncomfortable of situations extended kindness and a smile to those around them. We look forward to returning with more students next year.