HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-04-06, Page 12-11
12 News Record • Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Valerie Gillies Clinton News Record
The keynote speaker at CHSS Emotional Health Fair on March 3, Jackie Simpson is a Greif Recovery
Specialist working with Huron Hospice as Manager of Programs and Community Engagement.
CHSS students focus on emotions
Valerie Gillies
Clinton News Record
March 3 was a very emo-
tional day for many of the
students of Central Huron
Secondary School (CHSS).
This is because the focus of
the day was on emotional
health and change at two
separate events in Clinton.
Change Day is an inter-
active full day of activity for
the grade ten students of
CHSS under the direction
of facilitators of "Be the
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The students are led
through various games that
help them get to know each
other while developing
empathy and understand-
ing for their peers.
There were approxi-
mately 140 people sharing
on March 3 at the event
held at the Libro Commu-
nity Centre. The students
were divided into small
groups of five to six for
sharing. There were 22 stu-
dent leaders who have par-
ticipated in this program in
the past who were chosen
by their principal and guid-
ance counselors to guide
the student groups. There
were also 22 adult leaders
from the community, some
being teachers and others
from outside of the educa-
tion field who volunteer
their time for this annual
event.
The second event was
held at CHSS in the after-
noon for grades 11 and 12.
Principal George McEwen
explained that the students
had been surveyed and
interviewed to find out
what they would like to do
for this Emotional Health
Fair. With the student input
as guidelines, the students
began the event in the gym-
nasium to listen to keynote
speaker Jackie Simpson,
followed by rotating
through several stations
placed around the school.
Students had chosen which
activities they would attend
from the list of stations
which included yoga, cross -
fit, zumba, meditation,
dealing with stress, rela-
tionships, body image and
eating disorders, drug use
and abuse, dealing with
depression and brain gym.
Jackie Simpson is a Greif
Recovery Specialist work-
ing with Huron Hospice as
Manager of Programs and
Community Engagement.
Simpson explained that
everyone experiences grief
due to loss, a catastrophic
event or in everyday bad
things that happen to eve-
ryone. Not dealing with the
grief does a lot of emotional
harm.
Simpson opened her
presentation by illustrating
how society and media
tries to hide from the topic
of grief, making it taboo to
speak about, through some
very common sayings.
The first saying was,
"Laugh and the world
laughs with you, cry and
you cry alone." This moti-
vates people to try to live
according to media exam-
ples that imply that you
have to always act positive
to fit in. However, people
do cry as bad things do
happen. Life is not fair.
Simpson advised that when
these situations come
around the grief should not
be denied, but rather, "We
have to live the best we can
with what we are given."
Another saying is, "Bad
things happen to good peo-
ple." Simpson stressed "Bad
things happen to all peo-
ple", with emphasis on the
word "all". A slide was
shown illustrating that
there are over 43 types of
losses that can happen
somewhere within every-
one's life. They can happen
early on or later in life and
not at the same time in life
to different people.
The next saying is crucial.
"Most people don't have a
clue how to help." This is
because parents and teach-
ers have not be taught how
to deal with or help someone
else deal with emotional
injury. Because of this, most
people do not get the sup-
port that they need to heal.
Too often the advice is to
keep busy, rather than deal
with the grief, which does
not help and can actually
make it worse.
Simpson went on to
explain that because grief is
considered taboo to talk
about, it is misunderstood
and feared. Grief is an emo-
tion just like all of the other
emotions that people experi-
ence and feel. However, soci-
ety and media focus on only
happy and positive emotions
as it is uncomfortable to
address negative emotions.
There are many myths that
are taught. Simpson indi-
cated that by the age of 15,
each person has received
over 23,000 messages about
grief. The six that were high-
lighted in the presentation
were: "Don't be sad,"
"Replace the loss," "Grieve
alone," "Just give it time," "Be
strong for others," and "Keep
busy. This is concerning for
emotional health as grief is
the most powerful and most
dangerous of all of the emo-
tions. Simpson stated,
"When you bury or hide grief
it is almost a cancer to emo-
tional health." She explained
that people cannot get better
if they do not take actions to
deal with their grief.
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