Making Space for Mental Health
Story appeared in the 2021 issue of QMS Connections Magazine.
BY EMMA BENSON, Communications Officer
“Adaptation is an emotional process, not a thinking process”
By Landa Yang (Grade 12)
“Adaptation is an emotional process, not a thinking process,” emphasizes Alison Bowden, Senior School Counsellor. With increasing social awareness around mental health, the topic has become incredibly important especially when working to destigmatize it.
Reports show that during COVID, more people have felt anxious or depressed. Everyone has faced their own challenges during these times and students are no exception. From March to June 2020, QMS students had to convert to online learning; this impacted not only them, but staff as well.
Alison had to adapt her counselling to a virtual environment. Luckily, Dr. Lorna Newman, Junior School Counsellor, and Alison received professional support through the Independent School Association of British Columbia (ISABC). “When COVID hit, the counsellors from ISABC moved to an online forum, so Lorna and I were able to be a part of that counsellor group,” Bowden shares. “That was invaluable because not only was I a brand-new counsellor, I was new to working at schools and dealing with COVID.” The ISABC had weekly meetings and shared their resources and ideas on how to transition to online support. “Dr. Newman and I were trying to find what we could do to keep the thread of wellness going,” she explains.
New ideas emerged with this transition. The QMS counselling team designed and launched the QMS Wellness website (wellness.qmslife.com) which provides resources for students, staff and parents. “The website was born through watching what other schools were doing to try and keep a focus on wellness, and to keep reaching out to the students,” Bowden explains. She also started the Get real about how you feel initiative and the popular Wellness Wednesdays. “I would record a meditation and send it out to all Faculty Advisors so that students could do breathing exercises,” she shares. “Or I would send out a presentation on gratitude. It would be a new theme each week.”
In September 2020, Alison was thrilled to be counselling in-person again. “My biggest focus at the beginning of the school year was reconnecting with students, rebuilding relationships, meeting new students, and supporting the teachers.” Returning to school after learning from home caused anxiety for some students, reinforcing the wellness team’s work to ensure that students felt safe. “Making room for anxiety and grief was crucial,” says Bowden.
Alison was also involved with Stigma-Free month which was held in February. Each week had a different theme with the goal of ending stigma surrounding mental health, sexual orientation, gender identification, culture and race. Presentations were held in chapel, where students had the opportunity to educate their peers on the importance of being stigma-free. Bowden was more heavily involved with Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification (SOGI) week and mental health week. “For SOGI week we had an inclusive Valentine’s Day with a candy gram fundraiser,” she shares.
Ice Cream sales in February raised funds to support local mental health organizations.
During mental health week she printed around 360 student-created “feeling words” on coloured paper which were hung in Rowantree Hall. Words such as thankful, agitated, brave, uncertain, and enthralled fluttered in the breeze of the building’s foyer. “It was really great to see the students using the words as they walked past, even if they were making jokes,” she smiles. “They were expanding their emotional vocabulary.”
When asked about how these new mental health initiatives have impacted the students, Bowden places emphasis on normalizing the conversation. “Making space for mental health conversations and increasing our knowledge is incredibly important,” she explains. “Expanding our awareness increases our understanding.”
As there is still a certain amount of stigma in our society around seeking counselling, Alison and Lorna want students to feel differently. “My hope is for it to be no different than going to see the nurse or an academic advisor—that it’s a sign of strength,” she shares. “By using a strength-based approach, my aim is to help empower students to find their own answers. For young people to tap into their own resilience and strengths and be guided by them.”
When students depart Queen Margaret’s School, Alison hopes they will leave with a full mental health toolkit. “I want students to be able to learn from the experiences they had here and take those skills out into the world.”
Sophia Kazakoff and Catherine Yuan accept QMS’ official Stigma-Free Designation from Andrea Paquette, President of the Stigma-Free Society of BC.