Healthy Minds Week
February 8, 2021
WSD is hosting a special week focusing on mental health awareness and activities for students, staff and families.
The Healthy Minds Week, which is being held May 2-6, is a way of encouraging further conversations and practices towards positive mental health, while also celebrating schools' current mental health initiatives. The event is being held in conjunction with the Canadian Mental Health Association's Mental Health Week.
"WSD is on board with supporting mental health initiatives and mental health literacy amongst our students and families, and promoting mental wellness," said WSD Student Services Consultant Jón Olafson. "An integral component of this week is to raise awareness about mental wellness and assist with reducing the stigma when talking about mental health concerns."
Since 2013, WSD has embarked on numerous mental health initiatives, through its Mental Health Steering Committee. This includes PRACY (Preventing and Responding to Anxiety in Children and Youth), a pilot project that included professional development around school-based mental health interventions (mindfulness), classroom instruction (prevention), small group intervention (targeted), data collection, parent sessions and a communication strategy.
"The goal of our Healthy Minds Week is to celebrate all of the work that is happening in WSD with regards to mental health promotion at a variety of levels," Mr. Olafson said.
The week kicks off with a Healthy Minds Gallery Walk on May 2 (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) at Prince Charles Education Resource Centre. The gallery walk is a chance for schools to showcase and share their mental health initiatives and programming with other schools.
Youth care specialist Charlie Appelstein will present two sessions during the week. The first is a parent evening on May 4 at St. John's High School entitled Helping Your Kids to Be All That They Can Be: Using a Positive, Strength-Based Approach for Effective Parenting. On May 5, Mr. Appelstein will conduct a full day professional development session for staff entitled No Such Thing as a Bad Kid: Understanding and Responding to Challenging Behaviour in the Classroom.
There will also be two workshop sessions for parents and children, entitled "Tree of Life," the workshops take place May 3 at Cecil Rhodes School, and May 4 at King Edward School.
"Tree of Life is a parent-child group session looking at mental health from a strength-based perspective," Mr. Olafson said.
On May 5 at Dufferin School, students and parents can take part in the annual Learning Together Conference.
Several staff events are also featured during the week: a "Lighten Your Load" mental health workshop; a staff yoga session with the Manitoba Teachers' Society; and a Mindfulness workshop.
The week winds up with a Health Minds Moment on May 6 at 1:30 p.m. All WSD schools and departments are encouraged to have a school/department-wide moment for mental health—such as mindfulness moments, snack breaks, group walks or other events.
WSD HEALTHY MINDS WEEK – 2016
WSD Events
Monday, May 2
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Healthy Minds Gallery Walk – celebration of all the mental health initiatives and programming happening in WSD schools
Location: Prince Charles ERC
Contact: Cherie Waterman at cwaterman@wsd1.org
Questions contact: Jón Olafson at jolafson@wsd1.org
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
“Lighten Your Load” – A Mental Health Strategy for All Staff
Location: Prince Charles ERC
Register on Employee Connect
Questions contact: Heather Closen at hclosen@wsd1.org
Tuesday, May 3
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
MTS Wellness Activity – Yoga for All Staff
Location: Prince Charles ERC
Register on Employee Connect
Questions contact: Jill Heater at jheater@wsd1.org
3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Tree of Life – A WSD Parent (Guardian)/Child Workshop
Location: Cecil Rhodes School
Contact: Jennifer Curtis at
jcurtis@wsd1.org
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Staff Wellness Activity – Mindfulness for All Staff
Location: Prince Charles ERC
Register on Employee Connect
Questions contact: Jón Olafson at jolafson@wsd1.org
Wednesday, May 4
3:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Tree of Life – A WSD Parent (Guardian)/Child Workshop
Location: King Edward School
Contact: Jennifer Curtis at jcurtis@wsd1.org
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Charlie Appelstein “Helping Your Kids to Be All That They Can Be: Using a Positive, Strength-Based Approach for Effective Parenting” – Parent (Guardian) Evening
Location: St. John’s High School
Contact: Sharon Taylor at shtaylor@wsd1.org
Thursday, May 5
9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
“No such thing as a bad kid: Understanding and Responding to Challenging Behaviour in the Classroom” with Charlie Appelstein – WSD PD for All Staff
Location: MTS Harcourt Building
Contact: Sharon Taylor at shtaylor@wsd1.org
6:30 - 8:20 p.m.
Learning Together conference – A Parent (Guardian)/Child ages 4-12 event
Location: Dufferin School
Contact: Karen Naumiuk at (204) 774-3409 ext 548
Friday, May 6
1:30 p.m.
Healthy Minds Moment – all schools and departments will be encouraged to arrange a brief school/department-wide mental health enhancing moment (mindfulness moment, school walk, assembly, healthy snack break, student council event, poster display, intercom announcement, stretch break)
