Flex Your Head is a universal mental health, education and awareness program created by BGC Canada. The purpose of the program is to help youth think about, talk about, and understand issues of mental health and wellness in a fun and engaging way. It is primarily an interactive, strength-based educational program that is not intended as therapy or counseling.
The goal is to strengthen a young person’s ability to cope with and recover from difficulty by:
- Creating awareness and enhancing understanding of mental health and mental illness.
- Helping youth develop strategies to cope with stress, promote healthy relationships and understand the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Topics include:
- What is mental health and how do we talk and think about it?
- Looking at where values come from.
- Talking about emotions.
- Introduction to mindfulness.
- Looking at our brains and automatic thoughts.
- The relationship between thoughts and emotions
- The importance of experiencing all emotions.
- Self-care and having compassion for ourselves.
- Healthy relationships.
- Resolving conflict
- Talking about stigma – what it is and the affect that it can have.
Flex Your Head is offered in the Warehouse Youth Centre to Tweens and Teens, and also in some local schools at different times throughout the year.
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For further information about Flex Your Head, or if you are looking for assistance in accessing mental health services for your child/youth; please contact Colton Eddy.