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Let’s Change This: Bell Let’s Talk Day aims to improve mental health in schools and at home

For the 13th year, Bell Let’s Talk Day (Wednesday, Jan. 25) continues to encourage students, parents and staff to have open conversations around the importance of mental health in an effort to create positive change.

This year, Bell is committing an additional $10 million towards its $155-million funding goal for Canadian mental health programs. Bell’s 2023 campaign, Let’s Change This, focuses on lowering anxiety levels, reducing suicide rates and removing stigma around seeking help for mental health struggles.

Mental health and wellness are top priorities for Surrey Schools, for both students and staff. The district continues to support our school communities in and out of the classroom through at-school supports, the Employee & Family Assistance Program, community partnerships, video resources and more.

Registered clinical counsellor Christy de Bulnes, who made a presentation about resilience to the district’s Health & Safety committee, uses the analogy that the quality of our mental health is like the charge of a phone battery: some things in life drain us while others recharge us.

“Anything that takes physical or mental energy depletes our battery,” she said. “Healthy self-care activities and positive mental and emotional experiences replenish our battery.”

De Bulnes said connection, self-esteem, optimism and meaning are “battery boosters,” contributing to our mental wellness and our ability to manage stress, which are directly correlated with the ability to be resilient. Resilience is our capacity to navigate, negotiate and bounce back from difficult times, based on our disposition, beliefs, experiences, self-understanding, self-care and how engaged or connected we feel with those around us.

“We are all resilient, some of us more than others,” she said. “We can deplete our resilience – it’s natural to feel like our battery is running low during high stress times.

“But the good news is that it can be charged when we can identify what key ingredient we may need.”

To promote resilience, de Bulnes recommends using the 3-F Model for Trauma-Informed Communication when confronted with a stressful or anxiety-inducing situation:

  1. Recall the Facts of the situation.
  2. Acknowledge how it makes you Feel.
  3. Examine how you can manage fears in the Future and consider how you worked through previous fears in the past.

Whether you’re in need of new methods of self-care, a reframe of your past experiences, a new lens on your beliefs or someone to engage and connect with, the district encourages everyone to prioritize their mental health and wellness, and make use of the resources available through Surrey Schools.

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