“Thrive week started with last year’s student government that I was lucky to be a part of. It was something that we wanted to continue,” Student Government President Alicia Douglas said. Photo by Graham Whittaker, QNet News
By Graham Whittaker [1]
BELLEVILLE – Mental health will be a big topic of discussion around Loyalist College campus this week as it marks Thrive Week [2].
Student president Alicia Douglas says the Loyalist Student Government [3] is hosting this to promote the mental health of students through activities and group talks around campus.
“It is all about mental health and wellness,” she said. “Especially around this time of year, getting into second semester, students are very stressed and we want to provide them with different outlets to kind of de-stress and take a break from their academics.”
This is the second Thrive Week of the year, which is a step up from last, and it continues to be successful in helping students who are dealing with stress.
“We know that there are several different pillars of wellness and we really want to touch on the mental wellness of students,” she said. “Again, with it being a stressful environment, we just really want to create something for them to get away from the stress and the academics.”
On Monday, students can share a positive message with “Your Positivity is My Positivity” from 11 a.m. to noon.
“For this event, we take a whiteboard, we write a little positive message, we take your photo if you want and it gets posted,” she said. “It’s a message either for someone specific or it can be directed to everybody and in return, we give you a positive little card for yourself. I know last semester we handed those out and students really liked getting that positivity for themselves. So it’s like you give it you get it.”
There will also be DIY sensory water bottles from noon until 2 p.m. in the Shark Tank Pub and the day will end off with “Surviving to Thriving” certification training, which is free but must be registered for in advance.
Tuesday there will be silly games and photo booths being hosted at the pub from noon until 2 p.m. and in the evening there will be a movie night starting at 7 p.m. in the residence commons where they will be showing Big Daddy.
Wednesday is Bell Let’s Talk Day and at noon there will be a Jack Talk [4], a student presentation that focuses the mental health of young people, in the Shark Tank as well as therapy dogs in the Link Lounge.
“The first time I sat in a Bell Let’s talk presentation, the one thing that really stuck with me was that everyone has mental health but not everybody has a mental illness,” Douglas said. “Everybody as a whole needs to take care of their mental health, especially in this type of high-stress environment.”
Thursday there will be a student showcase in the pub featuring live performances and art on display from students, as well as DIY mini canvas art. At 7 p.m. there will also be a spa night in the residence commons.
Friday at noon there will be DIY “You Are” jars which focuses on spreading positivity to yourself. The week will end off with Country Pub Night at 9 p.m.
Students can also win prizes by getting their Thrive Week Passport stamped at each event they attend.
