Mental Health Awareness Week starts the 12th of May, and is a week aimed at raising awareness of mental health issues- it does what it says on the tin really! However, for as long as I've been at my school, it's never come up at any point, not even in the weekly assemblies that seem to cover everything else (and some). Therefore, this year I decided I was going to make sure the school did something to mark it, no matter what.
I emailed the Principal and one of the Senior Leadership Team, and they were very very keen to give it an assembly. There were already other assemblies planned for the week commencing the 12th of May, so the MHAW assemblies are happening this week. I got to sit on the first one, and I was really pleased with what was done- the Principal started it by talking about physical injuries, and went on to compare how people view physical illness to how people view mental illness, which I think is always a really really good way of looking at it. Overall, it raised awareness, but also provided information about mental health, staying mentally healthy and looking after others- a really comprehensive assembly and I'm really pleased!! Woo!