Mental Health Awareness Week @ the Academy

Health and well-being are foundations for academic and residential success. Health is often defined merely as the absence of physical illness. Recognising health in a wider scope as relevant to education achievement, the Academy is taking steps towards re-defining what we mean by student health and exploring psychological, emotional, and social well-being more widely.   

Within this new perspective, these needs are being addressed through access to a qualified and experienced student counsellor, enabling us to re-design our physical education (PE) curriculum to include learning about social and emotional health, looking towards parent seminars, and focusing on implementing ‘mindfulness’ as a tool to enhance skills for self-awareness and self-regulation. 

During the third week of September 2016, the Academy organised its first Mental Health Awareness Week to kick off this new initiative. Some of the activities included: daily quizzes about mental health; mindfulness meditation; education about bullying in leadership classes; art therapy; pet therapy. Teachers were encouraged to include mental health as a topic in their classes as part of their learning objectives. In addition, Academy Senior School students conducted an assembly for the Academy Junior School, to share material they had developed to disseminate knowledge about adolescent mental health to younger grades. Our students and volunteers were excited, engaged, and passionate about spreading awareness and de-stigmatizing the topic of mental health.  

“MYP 4A presented the assembly on 19th September 2016 which was a fantastic kick off for a new Monday morning and the Mental Health Awareness Week. It was challenging to work as a class as the topic was unique but at the same time it gave us an opportunity to learn something new. We divided the class in different groups and tasks were assigned to each group based on their interest; this gave an opportunity to all to showcase their talent. With everyone’s thought and collaboration we ended up doing a synchronized skit, a PPT presentation and music so that it could be meaningful as well as engaging to the audience. There was humour, drama, poetry, and an inspirational video which helped us to portray a strong message and create some awareness about mental health in the students. With so many ideas popping up by different students of our class, it was natural for us to understand or know about mental health, hence it turned out as a good learning experience.”
Excerpt from a reflection written by Laiqah and Simran, grade 9.

The Academy is committed to ensuring our students are in their best physical and mental health so they can continue on their lifelong journey to personal and academic success. Feel free to visit our new Wellness Centre (the old infirmary) to get a better idea of what we mean by health and wellness!  For more information, feel free to contact our Academy Counsellor Petra Breiner on petra.briener@agakhanacdemies.org.