Being proud of ‘being me’
It is like a line in the sand against mental illness. But this is more than a line etched by dragging a stick along a beach; rather, it is a circle and a message, composed of excited children.
The eye-catching aerial photograph of 1000 school children carefully arranged on Sumner Beach to scream ‘‘Character Matters’’ is an affirmation that everyone has strengths, and weaknesses, and that individuals need to be proud of what makes them unique.
Children at five primary schools in the Heathcote, Mt Pleasant and Sumner areas have been participating in a pilot programme that aims to create a ‘‘wellbeing and character education strategy’’ that can be applied as they grow into teenagers and young adults.
While it may sound a trifle vague, it is an initiative that will be good for our youngsters, many of whom have struggled, or are still suffering, with anxiety issues or depression as a result of the earthquakes.
What this teaching of character and wellbeing will hopefully do is provide a light through the darkness for those children who need it, and assert for all that it is OK to ask for help.
We all have moments where we question what life is about. When you are comfortable with what you believe in and stand for, what you like and do not like, are good at and not so good at, you can see clearly who you are. It is empowering when it dawns on you that you are the sum of a myriad of such components and that ‘‘this is me’’.
Surveys show Canterbury people are continuing to grapple with mental health issues. The demand for children’s counselling in Christchurch schools has not eased. If efforts are not made to nip those stresses in the bud, mental health problems will remain with the population as it ages.
Despite the Ministry of Health’s blind spot when it comes to appropriate levels of extra funding to bolster our mental health, it is obvious to most that state of mind is one of the region’s most pressing problems.
The recently released 2016 Canterbury Wellbeing Survey illustrates this, with 13 per cent of residents trying to help children frightened and upset by the quakes. Five per cent reported stress was still having a moderate or major effect on their lives.
Ministry figures also show Canterbury child and youth mental health services had contacts with 60 per cent more young people last year than in 2011, up from 20,744 to 34,936, compared with a 5 per cent rise nationwide.
This week’s biennial Quality of Life survey also shows Christchurch is lagging other cities in terms of being the country’s best city in which to live. Compared with 88 per cent of Dunedinites who say they are happy with their lives, Christchurch is at the back of the field, with 78 per cent happiness and one in five residents reporting feeling stressed all or most of the time.
The overseer of the schools’ character awareness pilot programme is Dr Lucy Hone of the International Positive Education Network. Hone believes wellbeing and character strength should be included in the national school curriculum, a view shared by schools involved.
Last week the Christchurch City Council came under fire for its nebulous resilience plan. The council needs look no further than this project if it wants to use some of its US$5 million from the Rockefeller Foundation to invest in something useful for the city’s future.