Best of the Week 2022-2023: Holy Cross Values

ST. ED'S COMMUNITY CELEBRATES MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Week, the St. Ed's Counseling Department, along with representatives from LifeAct, The National Alliance of Mental Health and The Brycen Gray Memorial Foundation, interacted with students to recognize the importance of mental health and wellness.

"We know stress and anxiety are issues that nearly every student deals with. Sometimes we need help in dealing with that stress and anxiety, and at St. Ed's we're all here for each other," says School Counselor and Counseling Department Chair Tom Carey.

While offering engaging activities and games for students, from Jenga, coloring book stations, and making your own stress ball, students were also able to interact with therapy dogs to take their mind off of the busy school day and other daily stressors and allow themselves to have fun and relax.

"Talking openly about mental health is helping to remove the stigma often associated with it," says Counselor Colleen Ganor. "This week allows us the opportunity to show all students simple ways to reduce stress and who to contact when in crisis."

Simultaneously, students were able to engage in meaningful conversations with representatives and counselors about mental health and were encouraged to talk about tough subjects in a more approachable way. Students were also provided with additional information and handouts about mental health awareness and were given resources they can use when needing to seek additional counsel and guidance.

"It is so important to connect our students to resources to help them when they have issues with stress, anxiety or other mental health issues," says Mr. Carey. "They have resources within the school like their school counselors and other faculty and staff, but there are also many great agencies outside the school like NAMI (National Association on Mental Illness) and LifeAct for suicide awareness to help provide our students education and practical mental wellness practices. The Brycen Gray Memorial Foundation is dedicated to the life that Brycen lived and raising awareness of mental wellness and suicide prevention and we want all Edsman to be there for each other and live how Brycen lived...'You've got a friend in me!'"