Wellbeing – Santosh Baral

Mental Health Awareness at St Catherine’s

This week is Mental Health Awareness week, and Last month on Thursday, 10 September, Australia had its annual R U Ok? Day. It’s a day to remind Australians that starting a conversation about mental health is really as simple as just asking a 3-word question: Are you okay?

But the conversation shouldn’t stop there. This year the theme of R U OK? Day was all about what to say after taking the first step and starting the conversation.

We may not all be experts on mental health, but we are a community that cares about the wellbeing of our friends and neighbours. To celebrate R U Ok? Day, a group of residents got together for an informal chat over cups of tea, and wrote down some positive messages about mental health. The messages were later used as decorations for a formal hall themed around mental health.

Talking about mental health can be difficult and awkward, but our residents looked to the prompts from R U OK? Day to direct the conversation. R U OK? Day offers a great 4 step plan you can follow when asking someone about their mental health, any day of the year.

1. Ask the question “Are you okay?”

2. Listen to the response

3. Encourage Action

4. Check in

St Catherine’s College understands the importance of mental health for our residents. Our program of activities and events is designed to assist our residents to lead an active lifestyle and reap all the benefits of being a part of our college community. We also have a team of Residential Advisors trained in Mental Health First Aid that you can chat to, and wonderful staff that can help you access resources when you need them.

We also have a number of residents that are actively involved with various organisations tackling mental health, such as Black Dog Institute, Zero2Hero, The Blue Tree Project, ManUp and many more. Mental health is clearly an important to issue to young people, and it is fantastic to see so many of our residents taking action.

This mental health awareness week, take time to check in with those around you and remember to seek out help if you are struggling. Building communities that are supportive and accepting of mental health conversations is important, and St Catherine’s will continue to do their part in de-stigmatising this issue with the help of our amazing young people.

See more articles on our blog site here.

Events and Programs to Support Mental Health

By Sian O’Sullivan

Mental Health is a priority at St Catherine’s College. All of our RAs are trained in Mental Health First Aid, and our staff are always around to chat and provide support. Every event or activity that has been run during isolation has been put together with mental health in mind, so let’s take a look at just some of the opportunities we’ve offered to support our residents during this unprecedented time.

Moonlight Meditations

Meditation has been proven to have so many benefits to mental health, and we have been so lucky to be able to have guided meditations accompanied by the therapeutic sounds of the didgeridoo played by our residents Amos and Angus.

Resilience and Anxiety Workshops

In stressful, we could all use some tips on how to deal with anxiety and develop resilience. Our residents were able to access workshops run by professionals that provided practical advice and strategies to help our residents adjust to unusual circumstances.

Art Classes

Getting creative is an excellent way to relieve stress, feel productive and practice mindfulness. Many art classes were run remotely, so residents could join in from wherever they were to learn a new artistic skill or just have fun.

Sport Classes

Keeping physically active is a massive part of staying mentally healthy, so our residents have been able to participate in sports classes or activities run twice a day. Ranging from live-streamed yoga class to hard-core fitness challenges, our residents can take a break from study and enjoy the endorphins that exercise brings.

Time to Unwind

As study has gone online, it can be easy to get caught up in deadlines and revision and forget to have fun! Sometimes a simple activity like board games, Backyard Science nights, going for a hike, cycling to the beach or a movie night works wonders to relieve stress and help you feel connected.

Academic Support

Our full tutorial programme online and was supplemented by a range of events and support to ensure our residents navigated their new learning landscape as productively as possible and with minimal stress.

Volunteering

Helping others is often the best way of feeling more positive and our wonderful residents gave back wherever possible. They offered to assist neighbours who were self-isolating with chores, volunteered online and gathered donations for disadvantaged youth in Mirabooka.

Weekly Firepits

Our residents can come and share their fears and concerns, and have any questions addressed by the Head of College.

If you’d like to read more about mental health support at St Catherine’s, check out this article about our collaboration with the Blue Tree Project.

As the College is classified as a place of home, our common areas have remained open and we are fortunate to still be able to run activities. At all times we ensured that our events and activities followed the most current rules and regulations put in place by the WA Government.

Blue Tree Project

By Amy Papasergio

The Blue Tree Project is a community program focused on encouraging people to break down the stigma around mental health and to spread the message that “it’s ok not be ok.”

There are around 250 Blue Trees already situated around the South West of Australia.

Peter Ebert, a St Catherine’s College resident, shares his journey and efforts which led to a Blue Tree being installed at the College:

Impact

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine committed suicide. He was in the year below me at my old high school in Albany. I didn’t know him that well, it was just the fact that this had happened to someone I knew, that it had affected me quite badly. I knew I wanted to do something to spread awareness about the issue and make a difference.

Later, I contacted Kate Rowe, my residential advisor, who me the College had wanted to organise a Blue Tree for some time and that we could spread awareness through the upcoming formal hall.

Blue Tree Project

The Formal Hall dinner held on the Monday 23 September was themed around the Blue Tree Project and mental health awareness. I contacted Kendall White, the coordinator of the project, who was able to speak at the Formal Hall and share her experience. That’s what this is all about, spreading this awareness and breaking down the stigma around mental health.

St Catherine’s Blue Tree

Many students helped to paint and plant the Blue Tree at College, which is now situated in the Gardens on Winthrop Avenue. This allows the tree to be seen by more people than just St Catherine’s residents.

I hope to continue the upkeep on the tree, which is something that means a lot to me and to those at the College.

Owen Ebert, my Dad who works for Albany Monumental Masons, was willing to donate a stone plaque which is now underneath the Blue Tree. It is engraved with the following words:

“We are stronger than we believe,

braver than we think

and loved more than we know.”

Residents at St Catherine’s College who are battling with mental health or know someone who is, are encouraged to reach out to their Residential Advisors or Ashleigh.

Remember, is it ok to not be ok.

See more articles on our blog site here.

Wellness at St Catherine’s

Health and wellness covers many aspects of our daily lives. It’s everything from our food, to our daily routines, to our mental health and overall well-being. Wellness is about respecting ourselves and finding ways to make our lives more enriching, less stressful, and all in all happier!

The onset of mental illness is common in mid-to-late adolescence, with the most pervasive group being 18-24 years old [1]. This is the age group of the majority of residents at St Catherine’s College.

St Catherine’s recognises the importance of providing activities aimed specifically at increasing the wellness, happiness and quality of life for residents. We take wellness seriously and develop a program of support, events and activities which take a holistic approach to wellness, both mental and physical.

At the College, many wellness activities are on offer. Activities designed to help with friendship building, relaxation, mindfulness and destressing are on offer, with the dedicated Wellness Team working hard to provide outlets for unwinding as well as having fun and making university study as productive as possible.

Wellness Officer, Camila Soto and her team create activities that fulfil at least one of the three main pillars of wellness – Mind, Body, and Spirit. They have also organised university related workshops as we all know stressing about university can adversely affect all three!

“Last semester we had three workshops directly assisting university work, these were Resilience and Dealing with Setbacks, Time Management, and – for when uni gets a little overwhelming – Breathing Techniques to Cope with Stress,” said Camila.

Other events on offer included weekly meditation, Saturday morning rooftop yoga sessions, and a mega college-wide sleepover where we came together as a community of friends to enjoy some down time and have a laugh playing games.

The team is really looking forward to next semester as they continue the popular meditation and yoga sessions, as well as holding new workshops, and making the rooftop gardens a healthy and accessible option for all our residents with the launch of the Cats Community Garden initiative.

At St Catherine’s, we encourage residents to give the same attention and care to developing and maintaining their mental and physical wellbeing as they do to their university studies. We believe that this holistic approach allows our residents to thrive in their pursuit of excellence.

To learn more about St Catherine’s Wellness program and to meet many or our dedicated program leaders, head to our College Open Day on Sunday August 12.

[1] – Ivancic, L., Perrens, B., Fildes, J., Perry, Y. and Christensen, H. (2014). Youth Mental Health Report, June 2014. Mission Australia and Black Dog Institute, Sydney.

MEDIA REFERENCE

Catherine Massey (St Catherine’s College) (+61 8) 9442 0591

See more articles on our blog site here.

Meditation at St Catherine’s College

Meditation is a simple session available to all residents at St Catherines, which can help reduce stress, increase calmness and promote happiness.

Before attending the class, I thought meditation was about becoming a new and better person – but since going to a few sessions I have realised that it is actually about training my awareness, as well as creating more positive and healthy perspectives.

From my first class the atmosphere was warm, calming and comfortable. I brought my pillow, lay on the ground, and began my meditation adventure in a relaxed and supportive environment. It can be so calming during the class, that people drift off to sleep.

Sa Silvano is the spiritual teacher and mentor. She plays singing bowls for the first part of the class before giving the everyone time to relax in silence for 15 minutes.

In each session, Sa encourages participants to become mindful in all parts of their lives, supporting their journey in becoming more awake, present, and open hearted in everything they do.

Meditation is a life-long tool that can be used to bring yourself back to the present in stressful situations. Stress is something all university students deal with on some level, making this class even more meaningful for residents.

Learning how to meditate is a straight forward and quickly rewarding practice. Classes are held every Tuesday at 4-5PM in the meeting room. Residents can also contact the Wellness Officer, Camila Soto, for more information.

MEDIA REFERENCE

Catherine Massey (St Catherine’s College) (+61 8) 9442 0591

See more articles on our blog site here.

Tag: Wellbeing

Mental Health Awareness at St Catherine’s

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