Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Caring pupils join mental health support festival
IAN BUNTING
Thoughtful St Ambrose High youngsters did their bit to combat mental health issues among their peers.
First- year pupils from the Coatbridge secondary school took part in the Scottish mental health arts festival held in Lanarkshire.
Erin Higgins, Marc Smith, Aiden Hamilton, Aidan Meechan Matthew Nelson and Connor Robertson showcased work conducted in the school’s “healthy minds” course.
The aim of the festival was to “use art and events to challenge the stigma associated with mental health and promote the positive affect that being connected to a community and participating in arts can have on mental wellbeing”.
A spokesperson for the St Ambrose High group said: “We wanted to create a piece of art to show in school that would help get people talking about mental health and wellbeing.
“We all participated in the healthy minds course with Mrs Ramage, spending time together hear the phrase ‘mental health’, it makes us think of mental health problems.
“This is especially prevalent for us as teenagers as it can be harder to talk about mental health because many of us feel others might judge us or not understand.
“This is when we came up with the idea of a portrait of a first-year pupil because we wanted to show that, even though we are all unique, we all have our mental health to think about; and how we feel will vary over time.
“We want to encourage people to start talking to others around them about how they feel; because others will have experienced exactly the same thing and we shouldn’t be keeping it to ourselves.”
A school spokesperson added: “The pupils worked incredibly hard on this topic and then represented the school at the North Lanarkshire Council pupil council session, where the theme was mental health and wellbeing.
“Our appreciation goes to the first- year students for being so mature and committed to the project; and for representing the