Service Learning Project – Extended Work

                                                                                                 Kate Laing

​

Project Report

     Society’s mental health improvement is crucial to our success. I was inspired to do this project because in the future I want to study and get a degree in psychology to better understand the human mind. As a stepping stone, I have just finished writing a whole thesis on how social media affects mental health which has only intrigued my interest in the mental wellness topic and how to get a better handle on this growing societal problem. I personally struggle with mental illness and know many other people who do as well. While mental illness is more common in the Gen Z generation it has impacted many generations and all kinds of people. My goal is to ultimately improve our world’s mental health which has vastly changed for the worse over the years. A tiny phone screen aside, many other factors have taken control of human lives and minds. There must be ways to improve and better our society as a whole, as I am scared for our future. 

     I decided to set up a service learning project at my school to introduce coping mechanisms to handle mental illness and stress to people ranging from children to adults. I prepared by writing out a bunch of positivity notes on neon index cards. I also found coloring pages that related to mental health such as positive affirmations, a brain lifting weights and mental health matters quotes. I brought in a miniature therapy horse named Lola for all people to pet. I held this whole event outside in nature on a nice day to improve the moods of everyone as nature improves our mental wellness. I provided resources for people to use in case they are struggling with mental illness. I also provided flyers with bullet points on why each of these events improve our mental health and included the source that I received my information from. I worked with my school therapist as well as my student wellness counselor to help make this event overall successful. I wanted to have the proper resources and support to get across my goal of improving mental health to the students and staff on my campus. 

     My project is aiming to improve mental health overall by starting off small and hopefully eventually growing even bigger. While this project is only covering a small portion of our society it has started to already improve this growing issue that our world faces possibly harsher consequences in the future whether that mean more suicides, more mental illnesses, increasing mood problems, as well as family and educational challenges, and etc. If this project can help in a small area I know it can eventually grow to help a larger amount of people as that is how we must tackle mental health. 

     My project taught people to independently handle moments of being overwhelmed and mentally drained while also giving people a moment to pause and breathe. There are many times in a day where people feel what they are doing is more important than their overall health and they get caught in a cycle when in reality what they are doing doesn’t exactly matter at the end of the day or in five years from now. My peers and faculty have also reflected on how we all can make a positive impact in people’s life by just being kind and an impact in our own individual lives by stepping back to rest our minds. My community has been impacted by the possible improvement of mental health by using simple coping mechanisms. The community’s youth has improved their mindfulness, awareness, and overall health. 

     Courage is the civic virtue that most goes with my project. I feel students learned that courage is the most needed civic virtue in this project because it takes a lot of courage to stand up and admit you are struggling with mental health. They have a better understanding of what civic virtues to follow in order to be a nice kind person serving their community to better our overall environment. I feel more students were made aware of the resources that are available but are never talked about to improve mental health. Students found that supporting others in the community meant spreading positivity and ways to better everyone’s mental wellness. Overall, this project was a great experience for all around and better brought awareness to my community to improve our mental health that is crucial to everyone’s success and impact on society.                                                                                

 

Principles Essay

     Mental health awareness is a priority. My project has concluded yet, still impacted people’s lives to this day, and will continue to. As my service learning project introduced coping mechanisms to handle mental illness and stress it has also introduced a continuous lesson for all. The lesson has taught people to take a moment to pause in their stressful lives no matter what the case is because their mental wellness should be a priority. It also taught them coping mechanisms to pass on to others even if it seems simple it still greatly impacts all lives. 

     This project has encouraged people to stand up and use a civic virtue, courage, to admit they need help and take time to get that help and reach out using the resources I provided. Most students don’t understand the resources available to them, so it’s important to make them aware. A founding principle that I feel most goes with this project is the natural and inalienable rights, because all people have rights through due process and protects people. When people struggle with mental illness sometimes it is hard to do the right thing at all times and that is why there are rights to protect an individual in certain circumstances. 

     My project will continue to impact those as they use their coping mechanisms and improve their mental health. I hope to spread this project to make people aware of coping mechanisms and of their resources, so we can globally improve mental health.