Mental Health Week 2024

Mental Health Week 2024 took place from May 6-12, 2024. This year’s theme, “A Call to be Kind”, was centered on the healing power of compassion. It reminds us to show compassion for ourselves and others, spread kindness in our schools and communities, and explore how compassion connects us all.

Taking care of ourselves and others takes time, focus, and intentionality. It is important to give ourselves space to recognize how we are and what we need. Most importantly, it takes a community commitment to notice, reach out, and care for one another by centering our attention on our shared humanity.

Each person is unique, and so are each person’s mental health needs. How you recognize this week depends on each individual person: you might like the idea of a “daily challenge” to help you dedicate time each day to your mental health and well-being. Or, you might prefer browsing articles, resources, and tips on topics you’d like to focus on.

The OCDSB’s Mental Health Team has compiled activities and links to help you to focus on whichever approach or topic fits best with you and your story. We hope these resources provide you with inspiration to focus together on how we can find joy, laughter, and learning together as we highlight the importance of mental health for everyone.

Additional Resources

There are many other resources available to help you look after your mental health, support your family, and talk about mental health with your children, including:

At the OCDSB, we strive to create partnerships with students, staff, families/caregivers and communities to ensure that every student feels they belong in their schools and classrooms, where we build skills to foster positive mental health and well-being, and where we bridge to identity-affirming clinical mental health services when required. To learn more about this work, see our Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy (2023-2027).

Ottawa Carleton District School Board