Ararat students join forces to create self-care campaign

Central Grampians LLEN project officer for Resilient Ararat, Jane Moriarty, said the Ararat community would be exposed to the messages during Mental Health Week in October.

"We're not giving away too much at the moment, but we have been working hard on an upcoming campaign that is designed to create community conversations about mental health and help breakdown the associated stigma," Ms Moriarty said.

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The session was led by Ararat College captains Jack Ward and Bri Hughes who helped grade five and six students develop key messages around gratitude, empathy and mindfulness.

"Eleven of our local schools have been implementing The Resilience Project's curriculum so we thought it would be a great opportunity to sit down with some of their senior students, and brainstorm the ways we can increase community knowledge of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness and promote positive mental health strategies," Ms Moriarty said.

"It was amazing to see these young leaders join forces to come up with some important messages they want to get out to the community. The campaign we have developed will provide them with a fun and interesting way to do that."

Ms Moriarty said October's campaign would help reinforce the messages shared by The Resilience Project during its visit to Ararat in February.

"Martin Heppell from The Resilience Project created a real buzz around the importance of mental health and we feel like it really got people opening up about their experiences," she said.

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"We don't want this enthusiasm to fizzle out - especially during a pandemic when looking after our mental wellbeing is vital.

"That's why we have developed a campaign that will really try to build on our work with The Resilience Project and encourage people to make self-care a priority."

Ararat College captain Bri Hughes said students were excited about the project.

"We really enjoyed having the opportunity to work with fellow young leaders and develop messages that will have a lasting positive impact our community," she said.

"As part of the Resilience Project's curriculum, we are exposed to a lot of useful mental health strategies.We are excited that this campaign will give us a way to share these messages with other people in our community who could benefit from them."

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