BCHS Art Trading Cards: Mental Health Awareness Week 2017

Today marked our the final art therapy based project, sponsored by my Spectrum club’s DEHR grant, for the 2016-2017 school year. For information on past projects please check out the following links:

Heart of A Community: BCHS Students Fill Their Hearts

ART THERAPY: We All Wear a Mask

For this final exercise we decided to try an art trading card technique. Art trading cards, are similar to hockey cards, or pokemon cards. The image on the front represents something about a person. The back of the card provides a name and a few details about the person it represents.

Based on our success with past project, we chose to make this a multimedia task with minimal instruction so that our students had plenty of opportunities for personal reflection.

Students were then asked to complete 3 cards.

1. To keep
2. To trade
3. A final card to contribute to the BCHS commemorative collage.

*although we allowed complete freedom for the first two cards we asked the students to base their third card on what it means to be a member of the Bishop Carroll community

With Spotify “tunes for the coffee bar” channel streaming in the background. We provided our students with two hours to work on their projects.

The results were amazing.

We are waiting for the last few cards to come in and then we are planning to mat the cards in a single frame in order to create a legacy piece to remember not only Bishop Carroll’s 45th anniversary, but also the year we were able to collaborate between art and counselling thanks to our amazing DEHR grant.

Thank you ATA.

Sincerely

Mrs. Luong

Creating a Compassionate Community

 

This past Tuesday we offered our 3rd annual Mental Health Symposium. It was held  during the morning and brought over 100 students, staff, and guests together to discuss why mental health is so important, especially during our high school years.

Mental illness is often stigmatized, making individuals who are struggling feel  reluctant or embarrassed to share their stories with others. A consistent message that our guests shared with our students was “You are not alone”.

Brett Rothery and members of the Mental Wellness Team.

 

“Mental Illness is NOT a death sentence” – Claire Hickie U of C Student

Empathy is about sitting with someone and just being

“Love me in the middle of my mess”. – Taunya – psychologist

Students also had opportunities throughout the morning to share their messages of love, hope, and thoughts on the importance of diversity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the activites which our Mental Wellness Committe had asked me to facilitate during our morning together is called Snowballs of Advice, one of the most popular activities from last years symposium

Once again our students have proven that not only do they come into our classrooms with a variety of challenges, beyond simple academics. They have also proven that they are compassionate and can provide their peers with fabulous support and advice.

How do you share the importance of mental health and wellness with others. I look forward to hearing about your ideas.

Erin Luong