Talk With Your School.
So you’re keen to get start the conversation about mental health in your school, that’s awesome! To do that, students and school staff need to work together. In this section we’ll cover how to talk with your school about starting a Chapter.
So what are Chapters exactly?
To share the vision of Chapters, you need to be familiar with the values of Chapters! Read over some of the questions below, and the FAQ’s in the ‘About’ section. Think about why it is important for your school. Do students at your school struggle with their mental health? If you care about the issue and express it well, you’re more likely to get positive reaction.
Make a time to meet with an adult at your school (teacher, counsellor, youth worker), then see if you can sit down with your school’s administrators (Principal/DP). Share your vision for starting a Chapter in your school, and talk about the kind of change you’d like to see.
- Chapters exist to start the conversation around mental health. A Chapter does this by running initiatives that help to reduce stigma and discrimination around mental health and promote help-seeking.
- Chapters do not replace the services available in your school, they work with them. Chapters are not a peer support group but will be trained on how to safely refer students in need to the services in their school, community, and online.
- Throughout the school year, the Chapter will meet regularly during school term time, and run initiatives on school grounds that promote positive pathways toward mental health and provide key information.
- Chapters requires staff oversight and guidance. Part of this support role is to facilitate training with the group and to support in the creation and completion of initiatives.
- To start a Chapter in your school!
- To allow a staff member to allocate some of their time each week to support the Chapter.
- To allow a space to be used for the Chapter to regularly meet and plan initiatives.
- To allow initiatives to be run on school grounds during lunch-times (permission may need to be obtained for each separate initiative/event)
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How to find the right people for your Chapter.