Another Children’s Mental Health Week has come and gone, and while it’s sad that it’s over we at Kinark are thrilled about the coverage children’s mental health received last week.

This year, Children’s Mental Health Week really seemed to be embraced by people everywhere. Our Facebook friends uploaded videos and photos to raise awareness and spread the word on bullying, our staff held barbecues, schools in our communities engaged their classmates in mental health education, members of the Ontario legislature wore green ribbons – we all tried our best to wear green, spread the word and show support for Children’s Mental Health Week. 

But we don’t just hold Facebook contests and pass out green ribbons so that people can win prizes. We do it because we want people to ask questions and have conversations. “What does the green ribbon mean?” -- “Have you seen my anti-bullying video?” -- “Have you shared your bullying message yet?” All of our initiatives this year were held so that our online audience, staff, partners and communities could get the conversation started and keep it going, even after Children’ s Mental Health Week has come to a close.

It’s so nice to turn to Twitter, or Facebook or even open a newspaper and see stories about people fighting to remove stigma, or educating themselves on mental health, or sending a tweet speaking out against bullying.

That is what awareness weeks are all about. They’re not for winning prizes, or having the best campaign, or the best promotional materials – they’re about spreading the word on a topic that most people, unfortunately, don’t discuss on a daily basis.

So let’s keep the conversation going, let’s keep fighting to remove stigma and next year, we can celebrate how far we’ve come!

If you haven't checked out our Facebook video and photo contests, you can still see the entries and vote for your favourite until Friday, May 18th.