Brentwood College student leaders and counseling staff hold an annual mental health and wellness day to help decrease stigma, increase awareness and promote resiliency

image: Vancouver Island Mental Health Society acting executive director Taryn O’Flanagan with Brentwood College School student Morgan Woodbridge

Brentwood College School is a co-educational boarding school for grades 9 to 12 located in Mill Bay, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The school uses a tripartite educational approach—emphasizing athletics, academics and arts. Students are also encouraged to take up leadership roles in local, national and international initiatives.

The SPARC student leadership group is proving to be an essential and key contributor to student wellbeing and mental health, right on campus. SPARC stands for service peer assistance resource counseling. The SPARC team led a mental health awareness day for grade 11 students on November 29th, 2017, training student leaders to educate their peers and provide support for mental health issues. The 2017 training and awareness day included morning presentations from outside experts and an afternoon sharing personal experiences in small groups, deepening individual understanding of peer mental health and wellness issues.

We speak with student Morgan Woodbridge, the current SPARC captain at Brentwood and with Andrea Felix, Brentwood College health and wellness counselor.

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