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Raising Awareness of Mental health

The College continues to put Mental health at the top of its
priorities. here are some insights into the various activities that
the College has been undertaking recently.
Staff at the College created a comprehensive display, which
was available to the students who were having their
immunisations recently at The Watermark.
To support the delivery of this information, during the week at
The Watermark and also at the College, Wellbeing Keyworker,
Kelly Atkin, talked to the students and handed out leaflets, wristbands and motivational cards. These were
all well received by the students and many
were very keen to talk.
Creative challenges were also set for the
students to get involved in with some great
prizes available.
Virtual wellbeing enrichment activities via
Teams have also been available, such as
learning how to do origami and card tricks,
led by Karren Stowe, a teacher of
Mathematics at the College.

Wellbeing at Ivybridge 7

Supporting Students and Staff

The College organised a special CPShe (Citizenship, Personal, Social
and health education) session looking at wellbeing where students
were introduced to the 'iheart' programme. This programme aims to
improve understanding of our innate wellbeing and the iheart
message is one that will be developed further over the coming
months.
In addition to this, students watched an assembly
aimed at finding the underlying cause of why we
sometimes say that ‘we are fine’ when in fact we
are not. Students were given tips on how to have
meaningful conversations with friends and family
to try to elicit responses that are more authentic.
The College also understands and supports the importance of staff wellbeing. A 'Time
to Talk' session, led by helen Ryder, the College’s Wellbeing lead, supported staff and
reminded them of simple, yet effective ways to look after their own wellbeing.
Wellbeing is about much more than a 'Wellbeing Week’ and we are taking this
opportunity to launch the ‘Big Devon Challenge for March’. Walking is the
simplest and easiest way to fit more activity
into our everyday routines and improve our
mental health.
We are setting the challenge to see which
Tutor group can walk the greatest
distance in March, with some fantastic
prizes for the winners.

Caroline Johnson, Associate leader, said, “We want the wellbeing
of our students to be at the heart of everything we do so it has been
fantastic to see wellbeing and mental health at the forefront of our
conversations over the last few weeks. I am looking forward to
seeing where the iheart programme will take us all. It is important for all students to know that if they ever
want someone to talk to that their Tutors, teachers and Pastoral leaders are always around to listen”.