The mental health and wellbeing of the young people in our care is always of paramount importance, but more so now than ever given the upheaval of the past two years because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Hence, we are delighted to avail of opportunities offered to us by Action Mental Health (AMH) and currently have two programmes running.
Thirteen of our Year 10 pupils are undertaking a six-week training programme to equip them to become AMH Peer Mentors. In their sessions, they are developing listening and communication skills alongside learning about what mentoring involves and the importance of being able to show empathy and maintain confidentiality.
During Enrichment, we have twenty-three young people from across the Sixth Form being trained to become Mental Health Ambassadors within our school. Their intense training programme is addressing mental health awareness, mental health stigma and promoting positive mental health in school. The young people, under the guidance, of Ms RoseleenMaguire (AMH Project Worker), are exploring common mental health issues, prevention, intervention and how to provide their peers with wellbeing support. As the course progresses, they will examine a range of resilience strategies, signposting support and how to look after themselves. Towards the end of the training programme, they will devise an action plan which will detail the proposals for fulfilling their roles as AMH Ambassadors within ERGS. Our extra-curricular sports are represented within this group and two pupils from our senior rugby squad have agreed to undertakeextended training in Mental Health in Sport, a bespoke programme specifically targeted at those involved in sport.
In supporting the roll out of the Peer Mentor and Mental Health Ambassador Programmes, two of our Heads of Year, Mrs Johnston-Cobain and Miss Donnelly, have been upskilling themselves through the completion of the PHA accredited Mental Health First Aid course.
The photographs show the pupils engaged in a range of activities within the workshops.
