Spring Break has flown by, and I can't believe there are less than 3 months left of school (although I must say I am grateful junior year is coming to a close). I'm looking forward to planning events for May, as it is Mental Health month.
I have written and was very hopeful about getting Hakeem Rahim to speak at Emma as the headliner for this month, but recently ran into some roadblocks. For one, I recently learned that Mr. Rahim's fee is $3000. Since NAMI is a non-profit, and NAMI@Emma, being a first year club, has $0, we have a major financial barrier. It would take a lot of bake sales to raise that kind of money. I also had some trouble effectively communicating the urgency of scheduling a speaker given our tight school schedule. While I had first proposed having a speaker in December, given the scheduling of Emma Talks at school and NAMI NYS's reorganization, it was difficult to have the two collaborate to find a time when Mr. Rahim is available. At this point, I feel it is much too late in the school year to plan a major, mandatory speaking event, which does sadden me, although I do have some other plans for May that I am very excited about. I believe that next year if I begin planning even earlier and am more assertive about getting responses we will be able to get a major speaker on campus. Instead I am hoping to take a service orientation to the Mental Health Month in order to help the Albany community and to make sure that club members feel that they are a vital part of the club. I plan on running a clothes drive for an organization (possibly the Equinox House) that works with the mentally ill homeless populations in Albany, and possibly making a trip to one of these organizations to cook a meal with other club members. In May we will also be participating in the NAMI Ribbon Campaign. In the mean time I am starting to work on compiling resources for the club toolbox that can be given to other schools to spread the club. I have a meeting with NAMI NYS and the Commissioner of the Office of Mental Health next month to talk about a partnership surrounding the NAMI high school club's promotion, and I also hope to see if I can intern at the OMH in August.
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On Friday March 4th NAMI@Emma hosted Gemma's Beauty in Body Diversity workshop. She first gave a great presentation about beauty myths portrayed by the media, then each participant worked on filling out a chart that listed different aspects of beauty, which they had to rank in importance based on their opinions. A vast majority of girls put weight as the most important factor in beauty. Lastly, each girl filled out a poster on which they wrote what their body could do for them (such as swim, run, bike, etc.), one perceived flaw they had, and in what ways that flaw might benefit them. These posters are now hanging in the 2e cafe. We did a fair amount of advertising for the event (Morning reports announcement, posters, announcements in health classes and some peer ed teas), and about 20 girls came to the event, but some left before making the posters because they were too daunted by the task. I completely understand their reluctance, and hope they will stay next year. It is only when you get into that zone on the border of your comfort and panic zone that you can grow. I think this event was very successful because it allowed all of the participants to reflect upon their own body image, while also seeing that everyone has issues with their own bodies. Reading some of the posters, it is interesting to see many of the people commenting on their perceived flaws that I had never even thought about. With body image and many other things, you really are your harshest critic. I hope we can run this event next year, and maybe integrate more information about eating disorder symptoms and resources in it. That being said, I think this event exemplified teaching girls good mental health practices. I truly wish everyone came to the event, because I think they all would have gained something from it. In the past I know that Gemma had made the event part of the Peer-Ed tea, which I think is a great idea for the future. |
Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all. -Bill Clinton
Katherine WallaceEmma Willard Class of 2017. Archives
May 2017
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