Mental Health Awareness Week 2019

Girls from across the school took part in activities to support wellbeing and to raise awareness of mental health.

Mental Health Awareness week saw a variety of form and lunchtime activities for girls to try out. In forms the girls learnt about how our brains develop as we grow and how trying new things and learning skills is an important part of keeping our brains working effectively as well as being an essential part of our wellbeing. More than 70 girls joined Monday’s Just Dance session with Miss Cameron. The girls got to experience how dance can help you to ‘shake it off’ when you feel stressed. Tuesday again saw more than 70 girls trying Tai Chi with Mr Griffiths where the girls learned some simple moves and breathing that form the basis of the martial art. On Wednesday Mr Underwood led the sunny Mindful Meander around the school grounds. He spoke to the girls about how being outside surrounded by nature can benefit our wellbeing. Dr Bune led the Stress Busters session on Thursday where more than 80 girls tried out different stress relief aids such as putty, stretchy worms and twiddle toys. The girls measured their heart rates before and after they had used the aids. They then determined which aid had reduced their heart rate the most and was therefore the best Stress Buster. Finally on Friday, Ms Neesham led a fantastic session on mindfulness techniques with girls using activities such as calligraphy and balancing books on their heads to learn about mindfulness and concentrating on the present through using our senses to connect with our environment. The sessions were all very well attended and there was lots of laughter and learning. Well done to all of the girls for coming along to try out something new and thank you to all of the staff for running and supervising the sessions. For more information about young people’s mental health and wellbeing please visit https://www.healthforteens.co.uk/ You can also follow our Pastoral Twitter account at @BHGS_wellbeing