Students invited to chill out during activity-filled Thrive Week
Cassandra Cardy, CONTRIBUTOR
RRC students connect with therapy dog to ease some stress at the College during Mental Health Awareness Week 2013. SUPPLIED/ Meghan Franklin
Meghan Franklin, a 29-year-old Red River College grad, remembers feeling extremely alone and ashamed when she was living with an eating disor-
der during university. When Franklin reached out for support, she recovered from her mental illness.
“Being 27 and having a full grip on my life and my mental health issue, I felt empowered,” she reminisced.
Franklin started a mental health initiative at RRC in 2013 so more students could feel empowered.
Since then, RRC has expanded her initiative by creating a blog about mental health called Mind It. The blog helps students find resources for taking care of their mental health. Students can find it online at blogs.rrc.ca/mindit/ mental-health.
“Life is stressful. Put school on top of that and it gets really heavy,” said Lau- reen Janzen, the manager of counsel- ling and accessibility services at RRC.
The college is renaming Mental Health Awareness Week to Thrive Week and collaborating with all departments to put together more activities.
Thrive Week runs Oct. 3-7 with events happening at both the Notre Dame and Roblin Centre campuses.
The college will be setting up booths where students can send thank-you letters to boost their morale. The college is also supplying stamped envelopes and putting them in the mail at the end of the week. The booths will be outside of the Cave Lounge at the Notre Dame Campus and in the atrium at the Roblin Centre from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Nova Browning Rutherford, a person- al development coach and professional speaker, will be speaking throughout the week.
Shaun Scrymgeour, the program director for the Red River College Stu- dents’ Association, encourages students to come enjoy a cup of tea and listen to Rutherford’s presentations.
“Tea and a Talk with Nova” happens Oct. 4 in the Cave Lounge at the Notre Dame Campus and Oct. 5 at the Roblin Centre in Room P107 from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
The college will offer free meditation and yoga sessions on Oct. 4 at the Roblin Centre in Room P107 and on Oct. 5 at the Notre Dame Campus in the Cave Lounge. Meditation will run from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. and yoga will be from 12-1 p.m.
Therapy dogs are scheduled to visit both campuses, and there will be live acoustic music at the Roblin Centre cafeteria. For more information on Thrive Week events, visit rrcsa.ca or the Red River College Students’ Association Facebook page.
“We all have mental health, every single one of us. Taking care of your mental health is nothing to be ashamed of,” said Franklin.
Students can also make free appointments to talk to any of the seven counselors at RRC for help in dealing with depression, managing anxiety, or anything else connected to personal wellness.
