Students Get Healthy

By Jamie Adam
Hundreds of students gathered at St. Clair College to participate in its first Health and Wellness Week.

The week focuses on physical and mental health issues and several health organizations had presentations and set up information stations.

The week began with mental health awareness on Jan. 21, also known as Blue Monday. It is considered the most depressing day of the year for a number of reasons: the lack of upcoming holidays, paying the bills, the cold weather and not to mention many people consider Monday their least favourite day of the week.

Student Representative Council president Keri Bagley said everyone is affected by a mental health issue, whether it’s stress, anxiety, depression or other illness. She said it’s important for people to learn how to deal with it before their problems become too overwhelming.

“It’s been more apparent, not just on this campus, but across Ontario, the need for a Health and Wellness Week,” said Bagley. “A lot of people are dealing with physical health issues as well as mental health issues, so it’s something that affects all of us and something that we definitely need to pay more attention to and inform people about.”

One of the organizations attending the Health and Wellness Week is Neighbours, Friends and Families, a public education campaign raising awareness about relationship abuse. Community coordinator Debra Fowler spoke to students in the morning and afternoon and has a booth set up for the duration of the week.

“The college student is at that age where they’re learning to date and sometimes they get into unhealthy situations and they’re not always sure what to do about it,” said Fowler. “When you ask people in the class if they know somebody who’s in an unhealthy, abusive relationship, I would say three quarters of the class raised their hand. It’s something that’s going on in the population and it’s just about getting the information out there.”

Other organizations attending the Health and Wellness Week include City of Windsor 211, Hiatus House, Bulimia Anorexia Nervosa Association, Sunparlor Pregnancy, Pathway to Potential and counsellors from St. Clair.

Nick McEachrane is a Protection, Security and Investigation student who attended the Health and Wellness week.

“I think it’s good because a lot of people have problems with their own health and may not even realize it,” said McEachrane. “This week is good for them to learn about things affecting them or their peers.”

The Health and Wellness campaign is planned to continue every October and January.