School’s spin on making life OK

Last week Broome Senior High School put a Kimberley slant on national day of action to prevent suicide, Are You Ok Day.

Broome’s improvised “You Right or Wat Day” was the first run of an initiative which aims to tackle high suicide rates by stimulating open, honest conversations.

BSHS student services manager Bridgid Lafferty said the student council had decided to do something “positive rather than reactive” which could encompass the whole school during an extended lunch hour on Wednesday.

“We decided to make a more quirky side to the day with a theme of dressing up as someone who cares,” Ms Lafferty said. “So we had lots of surf lifesavers, a few nuns, a few nurses, a nanna, superwoman, and we also had a gorilla … lots of kids got into the spirit of it which is fantastic.”

Many of Broome’s mental health agencies also got on board for the event, including Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service’s mobile medical unit, youth mental health group Headspace, which set up a photo booth, and Broome Community Health Service, which offered a selection of healthy eating options and health-related information.

School bands performed, the State’s juvenile justice department ran an obstacle course made up of sources for mental health support and HYPE facilitated students painting a commemorative banner.

“The renal unit were talking about kidney disease and there’s been a big kidney (mascot) walking around,” Ms Lafferty said.

“We had the student services team, headed by our school chaplain and our school psychologist, running a four square competition.”

Ms Lafferty said she hoped students walked away with the message that it was OK to ask for help.