Mental Health and Wellbeing: A Conversation with Our Students

This week, in our all community Chapel program, our Wellbeing Centre Seniors-in-Charge (SICs), Isabella ’22, Victoria ’22, Andria ’22, Nikki ’22, and Rori ’22 spoke about the Bell Let’s Talk program. In their discussion, they addressed the prevalence of mental health challenges amongst Canadians, how to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness, and where to access support. 

Learn more from our Wellbeing Centre SICs:

"Mental health is a person’s condition surrounding their emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood through adulthood. It’s easy for poor mental health to go unnoticed, which can lead to greater issues, and that is why it is essential to recognize how significant mental health is."

"We all have mental health just like we all have physical health. Sometimes we get sick, and we have to treat our physical ailments. Mental health works exactly the same way, but with our emotions. Whether directly or indirectly, mental health poses challenges for us all at some point in our lives."

"One in five Canadians will experience mental illness. This is no small statistic. Those affected are people we cherish, whose eyes we meet on a daily basis. Some whose struggles we can see, others whose challenges we cannot. This is why it is so important to talk about it, to start the conversation."

"When facing times of struggle, one of the best things you can do is reach out. There are many resources and support systems available to you. To know when it’s time to reach out, you may monitor your wellbeing for the following symptoms: lower grades, avoidance of friends and family, frequent anger outbursts, shifts in eating or sleeping habits, rebellion, substance abuse, constant worry, frequent mood swings, obsession with weight, lack of motivation, increase in risk-taking, and/or constantly feeling 'down'."

"Our mental health lies on a spectrum and how we’re feeling can fluctuate over time. Illness can be experienced in varying levels of severity or not at all. A person with a more severe mental illness may experience symptoms that are longer-lasting or more disruptive to their daily lives than a person with a mild mental illness. We may face stressors that we can treat ourselves, but there may also be more serious ailments that require the support of outside resources (e.g. severe stress that won’t go away, regardless of self-care methods we try)."

"As a student at LCS, there are many mental health resources you have access to. You can go to your friends, a trusted adult, a school counsellor, or the health centre." 

"Some of the off-campus resources that you can access include the Headspace app, which has guided meditations that can help you find a sense of calm. You can also reach out to any trusted family members who can support you; Kids Help Phone, which is a mental health service, is available 24/7 across Canada; and Four Counties Crisis provides local comprehensive crisis response services to individuals with serious mental illness. These are all really great options and an alternative to on-campus support."

"The Wellbeing Centre SICs have planned many activities this week for you to learn more about mental health and think about how you can better yourself or the people around you. This week, we will have a 'bubble filling station' to write about what you're doing to help create a positive change for mental health. This will happen during advisor meetings. On Wednesday (Bell Let’s Talk Day), there will be a self-care station outside of the SLC. On Thursday, there will be a Kahoot game during chapel. Mental health books and colouring stations will be set up all week this week in the library."