World Mental Health Day

What is World Mental Health Day?

World Mental Health Day (WMHD) takes place on the 10th of October every year. Its objective is to raise awareness of mental health issues and mobilize efforts in support of mental health around the world. World Mental Health Day is organised by the World Federation for Mental Health.

The theme for 2018 is: “young people and mental health in a changing world.” The theme aims to bring attention to the issues our youth and young adults are facing and start conversations around what they need in order to grow up healthy, happy and resilient.

Why is Life Education supporting World Mental Health Day?

Life Education is supporting World Mental Health Day because we understand that mental health is critical for children growing up and work to help them feel comfortable with their identity, where they fit in, and where they belong.

Through the work we do in schools, we’re seeing increasing demand for help to support children’s well-being, such as resilience and tactics to deal with stress. By equipping children with the right skills we can help turn this around.

How does Life Education support children’s mental health?

Through education we help students to understand how decisions they make today can affect their future health and well-being.

Our specialist Educators teach children about the magnificent brain so that students can develop an understanding of how it functions and what its needs are. Using models and digital technology, we are able to demonstrate how our brain reacts when we are under stress. We explore how the brain responds to different emotions and how we can create positive responses.

One of the strategies that we explore with children is about the need for support and the importance of sharing our problems with others to help children navigate through the complex issues they may face.

What will we be doing to raise awareness?

For World Mental Health Day we’re asking New Zealanders to help start the conversation and share why mental health matters. Whether you’re a teacher, student, workplace or individual just share why mental health is important to you/what it means to you on our #mentalhealthmatters poster, take a picture and upload it on social or email to [email protected] Don’t forget to tag us and use the hashtag #mentalhealthmatters