Spotting the signs of mental distress is key says Sudbury mental health lead

Mental health is such an important topic, Sudbury's Mary Jago says people need to be able to talk about it everyday.

Wednesday is Bell "Let's Talk" day, a campaign to raise money and awareness about mental health. Jago, who is the mental health lead at the Rainbow District School Board in Sudbury, says she hopes the day will encourage people to talking about mental health year round.

This year, the board adopted its first Mental Health Strategic Plan, aiming to create a learning environment where young people become strong, healthy and vibrant individuals, without discrimination.

Jago says some of the issues students deal with is a sense that they don't belong.

"They feel they are somehow being discriminated against because of their appearance or how they may be a little different then everyone else," say Jago.

It is important to to try and determine the difference between a child going through a difficult patch and someone who may be in serious mental distress so people can step in and helpsays Jago.

"And when there is actually something that has gone awry and we are seeing significance mental health challenges and even leaning towards a mental illness."

Conversations to check in

Jago says ifyou notice a difference in someone's behaviour thatlast more than a few weeks, make sure you ask them about it.

"We notice the differences in people's appearance, or their mood, how they are interacting with their friends, their excitement, their interest in things is changing," she said.

"We want to ask the question and actually have the conversations and ask them how they are doing."

She says then you can follow up by asking why these changes are happening and how you can support them.

Jago says sometimes students are changing things to be able to say, "is anybody noticing me, Ifeel so alone and I don't belong, will somebody notice?"

Jago says we can all do little things in our lives to improve our mental health, such as taking time to be mindful of our surroundings and taking on a practice of kindness.