Some activities have been so popular they've had to turn some young people away. (submitted photo/Emma Smallwood)
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Mental health program at CCHS offering summer activities for local youth

Aug 1, 2023 | 3:59 PM

It’s been a busy summer so far for the Mental Health Capacity Building Program based at La Ronge’s Churchill Community High School.

“It will be a year at the end of August that we’ve had it and it is all about creating more mental health in the curriculum, more teaching about mental health in the classrooms, in everyday life in the school and, eventually, branching out to the parents and the community,” program coordinator Emma Smallwood said.

“We will do presentations about stress, anxiety, drug use, alcohol use, depending on what is really needed in the schools. We look at surveys to see what students and teachers are struggling with, and then we try to navigate what we are going to present on that or what we are going to teach.”

Smallwood, along with program promoter Leah Fitch Halkett, run the program throughout the school year and during the summer as well. They were initially offering it this summer to Churchill students between Grade 7 and 12, but they’ve since opened it up to a broader demographic.

“We weren’t getting a ton of attendance, so we opened it up to a lot more,” Smallwood said. “We just try to have not as many younger kids because there are a lot of other programs within the community that offer programs for young kids, and we aim to have older kids because there isn’t a ton of summer programming for teenagers.”

Some of the activities they’ve organized this summer include roller hockey, baking, open gym, hiking, beading and a breakdancing workshop. On Wednesday, they will be taking a group to the Don Allen Trails for blueberry picking. Smallwood noted some of the programs have been so popular, they’ve had to turn people away because they didn’t have the equipment or space.

Roller hockey at the Jonas Roberts Memorial Community Centre has been one of many activities. (submitted photo/Emma Smallwood)

“We plan to have more art kind of stuff in August, so we’re going to have Art in the Park with Alex Halkett, so he will teach [how] to paint,” she said. “We want to have more beading, hopefully Caribou tufting, some family movie nights, things like that.”

Smallwood also mentioned participants have been enjoying the programming and she’s received a lot of positive feedback so far.

derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

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