Mental Health Week: Relax, De-stress and Have Fun!

“Often times when we think of mental health we think of mental illness, we don’t think of it in terms of relaxation and de-stressing,” remarked Kim Kendell, Youth Outreach Worker with Mental Health & Addictions and organizer of Mental Health Week activities at CEN.

May 2-8, 2016 marked Mental Health Week, a time marked for each of us to take a moment out of our hectic lives to make a conscious effort to look after us. ” Too often we neglect ourselves and it’s nice to take some time to relax, de-stress and just have fun,” continued Ms. Kendell.

Thanks to grants from Western Health’s Mental Health & Addictions and the BSG Coalition to End Violence staff and students participated in a variety of activities to ensure everyone had the opportunity to follow Ms. Kendell’s advice. Monday, May 2 staff and students donned their best “greens” to support “Going Loud” for Mental Health. Throughout the week, anyone in the LS Eddy Memorial Complex could take 10 minutes to unwind in the de-stress room…wrapped in green ambiance, with nature’s sounds in the background, one was invited to lie on the couch, cozy up in the beanbag chair, make a stress ball or engage in coloring, puzzles or play with molding clay…whatever worked best.

On Friday, 16 participants came together for a friendly competition of Minute to Win it games…abound with laughter and teamwork, three teams vied for the title of champions.  After 30 minutes of Mad Dog, and Junk in the Trunk among others, everyone was treated to a healthy lunch of Subway sandwiches and fruit.

In addition to these events, 14 staff members participated in CMHA’s Your Health on the Line initiative. Drawings and messages of how each re-vitalizes their mental health were hung in the lobby promoting positive mental health strategies.

For us all we make every effort to take care of ourselves physically, but neglect our mental health…when in reality one is dependent on the other…whether it is closing your eyes for a few moments and meditating, getting up and going for a walk, listening to your favorite music, reading a book or just sharing a joke it’s not a hard labourous thing to look after our mental health, but it is one we all need to work on.

To all who participated in this week’s CEN Mental Wellth week thanks for the memories, and in case you want to relive the fun, laughter and relaxation, check out our gallery and Facebook...