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Students from Coláiste Bríde, Enniscorthy, were delighted to be joined by Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Helen McEntee TD, for the launch of their new mental health awareness booklet and website www.iamworthit.ie. The CEO of CEIST, Dr. Marie Griffin, was also in attendance at the launch and presented Coláiste Bríde with an Amber Flag in recognition of the student council’s outstanding work in promoting positive mental health. The launch was the culmination of a year of hard work from the Coláiste Bríde student council who deserve huge praise for their devotion and determination in relation to this project. This was echoed by Minister McEntee who told local radio that “the teachers and students should be rightly proud of their achievement”.
The student council became aware that local mental health support information was not readily available for or specifically aimed at teenagers and vowed to take action to promote a greater awareness of mental health services available in Wexford. As a result, they have produced “I am Worth it”, a thirty- two page booklet promoting positive mental health and a supporting website which mirrors the booklet. The word Worth in the title “I am Worth it” stands for “Wexford Offers Reliable Teenage Help”. Apart from developing the booklet, the student council also held fundraisers and raised sponsorship to cover the cost of graphic design, printing and development of the website. The booklet is in the process of being distributed to 13,000 teenagers in every post primary school in Wexford. The importance of this initiative has resulted in visits to the school from the local newspapers, South East Radio and Beat FM. However, the visit of RTÉ to talk to the student council and the subsequent broadcast on the youth programme, News2Day, has brought national recognition for this wonderful achievement. https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/809480707147841536 There was a brilliant atmosphere in the school throughout the ‘I am Worth it’ positive mental health week that preceded the launch. Whole-school activities such as drop-n-dance, sensory walks, skipping, meditation, yoga, knit-n-natter and suicide awareness talks brought mental health awareness to the fore and helped break down the taboo around talking about mental health. |