Teen mental health talk’s main focus
BROADCASTER, psychologist and author David Coleman made the journey to the Talbot Hotel to discuss positive parenting and promoting a positive mental health message among teenagers.
Mr Coleman arrived on the invitation of the St Peter’s College parents’ council and an open invitation was issued to the parents of students to come along and get some advice. It was a full house on the evening with some 400 parents turning up and among the topics explored were the internet and the role of social media in the lives of teenagers, as well as things like exam stress and how to combat it.
‘We had a great turnout on the night and it was very interesting,’ said school principal Robert O’Callaghan. ‘The parents’ council had been looking to get David Coleman down for quite a while and it was a great opportunity for parents to address any anxieties or concerns that they may have in relation to their children.’
Afterwards there was a questions and answers session, where the speaker offered some wonderful advice and those behind the evening, the parents’ council and deputy principal John Banville, were delighted with how the evening went.
In-fitting with the topic of the evening, a group of transition years presented a cheque for €400 to Wexford Mental Health Association. The money represented some of the proceeds from their enterprise project which saw them design, print and sell a mental health themed calendar and the organisation were delighted to get the funds in, thanking the youngsters for all their hard work.