Students take break to focus on mental health

By BRENDAN MILLER on May 24, 2025.

bmiller@medicinehatnews.com

Junior high students at Alexander Middle School took a pause on their academic courses Thursday to focus on activities that promote mental health and wellness, including an afternoon wellness fair with several community partners.

Throughout the morning Grade 7-9 students participated in numerous group activities designed to energize and refocus the mind, allowing students to take a break from screen time.

April Welsheman with the Medicine Hat Public School Division’s Mental Health Capacity Building Program says the morning of activities – diamond art, board games, Tetris, puzzles, etc. – allows teenage students to enjoy the sense of play.

“We’re always studying and it’s great to be reminded that we can take a break and it’s good for our brain and it’s OK to take that break,” says Welsheman. “The kids love today, they just get to play, and I think teens often feel like they can’t play and be a child right? Because they have so many pressures in their lives.”

The annual wellness day also shines a spotlight on increasing issues younger students are experiencing that include anxiety and depression, and opens the doors to a range of resources available.

Principal Warren Buckler says the school’s annual wellness fair also promotes the importance of talking about mental health and reduces the stigma surrounding the issue.

“The more that we can promote the conversation and eliminate the stigma around mental health that old guys like myself would have had to deal with and, you know, our parents, the more we talk about it, the more kids talk about it, the more we know and the more that we can support it.”

During the afternoon community partners including the Root Cellar, Medicine Hat women’s shelter, public library, Sanare Centre, Stigma-Free Mental Health Society, South East Alberta Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Society, Miywasin Friendship Centre and Our Collective Journey hosted a wellness fair for students.

“I don’t think that there is a more important job for us, as educators, than to attend to and support mental health in kids, because if they are not well, they can’t learn. And that’s what we’re here for,” said Buckler, who says data suggests that starting around Grade 5 many students experience an increase in things like anxiety, depression and general poor mental health.

“We really try to make it a focus here through some of the things that we set up at the school. It’s part of our conversations all the time, and then the ability to work with some of our amazing community partners is a wonderful resource for the kids.”

Welsheman says student feedback has been positive as the day provides students information about specific resources available for them.

“It’s always really cool to hear kids be like, “Oh I didn’t know that Sanare Centre had a boys group throughout the summer, I’m going to look into that,’ or, I didn’t know how to access the Root Cellar and now I know as a teen I can walk in and ask for food.'”

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