Mental Health

Strand 3: Individual and Community Health

Outcome 5.6 - Students analyses attitudes, behaviours and consequences related to health issues affecting young people

SLA: Understanding mental health, help seeking behaviours and reaching out (helping yourself and helping others).

SLT: Challenge negative community perceptions of mental health and identify reasons why these have developed.

Skills: Decision making and problem solving

The topic of Mental Health can also be integrated with Strand 1 Self and relationships by allowing students the scope to incorporate 5.1 (students analyse how they can support their own and others sense of self) into this topic. Engagement activities and stimulus can reflect the importance of how mental health issues can affect students and the relationships they have.

Scope of Task 1:

Provide students with a blank piece of paper. On the white board write the following questions for students to think about.

1. Do you think the majority of people feel comfortable disclosing a mental health issue?

2. What do you think could be some of the reasons as to why people would not disclose a mental health issue?

3. How do you think mental health issues are viewed by the wider community

4. How would you react if someone told you that they suffered from a mental health issue?

5. Who could people go to for support?

6. What could you do as an individual to assist?

Ask students to write some key points answering the above questions. Allow 5 to 10 minutes for students to complete this task.

This task is designed to get students thinking holistically about the issue of mental health from their perspective.

Once students have completed this task a class brainstorming activity is undertaken with the teacher facilitating discussion. Commence discussion with students answers to question 1 and progress through to question 6. As students provide answers write dot points under each question on the white board.

Identify the key issues that students have provided and circle them on the board.

Task 2: Small Group Exercise

Divide class into groups of 5 students in this case the class has 20 students. Provide each group with the following points to concentrate on.

1. Does mental health carry a societal stigma and if so why?

2. What could be some of the reasons why people may feel reluctant to seek help for a mental illness?

3. What could be some of the wider community effects of mental health issues?

4. How could mental health effect relationships?

Allow each group 5 minutes to document their ideas. Ask for a spokesperson from each group to stand up and relay to the class what their group came up with. Provide positive feedback to all student groups throughout this exercise and reinforce their answers.

Task 3: Stimulus Picture's

Google Mental Health Images

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=mental+health&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Students are to view to above hyperlink with the aid of the following discussion questions

1. What are some of the effects of mental health issues on

The individual

Family

Friends

Work

The Government/Economy

Health spending

2. What do the images reflect about mental health issues?

3. What feelings do the images reflect?

4. Who can be affected by mental health issues?

5. What do some of the images tell you about the people that suffer from mental health issues?

Teacher to facilitate discussion of the above questions with a view to providing students with balanced understanding of mental health.