Tena koutou katoa. Nga mihi atawhai nui.

‘Throughout this week we have created activities so that you are able to learn and take charge of your own mental health for the benefit of yourself and so that you are able to live your best life!’

This is Mental Health Awareness Week and our students have been busy, providing both information and activities, to support each other. These have included giving a definition of mental health, where to get support, using the Te Whare Tapa Whā model for explaining why mental health is so important, meditation and other wellbeing exercises to try out, online resources to explore and discuss and a get together at the end, to celebrate the end of a very long and difficult Term.

In these times of uncertainty, it is important to pay real attention to mental health, not only our own, but looking out for others as well. These weeks of online learning and living restrictions have tested our coping mechanisms as a whole society. We need to continue to work together and not get lost in the doom and gloom that is presented daily in the daily news bulletins and then amplified in the social media forums.

I share the hope of our student organisers that ‘you have gained more of an understanding of your own mental wellbeing this week’ and can put some of the positive strategies in place to live your best lives.

I am looking forward to greeting you all back, on site, next Term. Enjoy the Term break, even if it is just a break from Zoom and Google Meet !! Kia kaha, e te whānau.