Mental Illness Awareness Week started on September 30 and ends on October 6.

St. Augustine school in Ponoka has officials that have taken this time to promote healthy habits and self-care strategies for students and teachers.

The schools counsellor, Tara Newton says this is one of the busiest times of the year with homework and after school programs, and the weather can also play a factor into an individual’s mental health.

“We’re encouraging teachers to do a self-care plan themselves as well as the students do a self-care plan, looking at their mind, their body and their spirit.”

In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental health or addiction problem.

Newton says she wants teachers to focus on sleeping habits, eating habits, and screen time in their class members and themselves.

 “For the mind doing things like meditate, listen to music, for body doing things like getting enough sleep, for spirit again meditation, having good friendships and connections.”

She says they are also helping students to create ‘Calm Down’ kits, to use when they are feeling anxious or frustrated to teach them resiliency, and help them get back to the task at hand.

According to her, a study is done every year and Central Alberta is marked as the highest anxiety levels in the entire country.  

“We do recognize that Central Alberta not just our school district, students’ anxiety levels are very high compared to the rest of Canada.”