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Bolster Community recently brought together local youth organisations to St Joseph’s High School Newry for 'Your Youth, Your Wellbeing'- a full school day filled with motivational speeches, wellness workshops & resilience challenges.
The day was aimed at Year 8, 9 & 10 and aimed to engage boys in Northern Ireland aged 11-13 on wellness, positive mental health and motivation.
Representatives from P.I.Ps Newry & Mourne explained self-care and what this can look like, giving practical and relatable examples as well as coping mechanisms.
Motivational speaker Billy Dixon, CEO of ‘Challenge, Change & Be Different’ gave a passionate speech on resilience, reflecting on his own life story. Dixon is one of Europe's leading authorities and commentators on personal projection, communication and team dynamics, so had a lot of information to help the boys on their journeys.
Bolster Community also brought in Pathways who set up an obstacle course and other fun, practical, immersive outdoor activities reflecting life’s various challenges.
Another workshop was First Aid hosted by a representative from Newry, Mourne & Down District Council.
Bolster Community wishes to recognise The Magnet Centre, Newry who kindly donated 250 hygiene packs for each student to take away. Each included shampoo, shower gel, deodorant, toothpaste and a toothbrush, equipping the boys with practical ways to practice cleanliness & self-care in order to be the best versions of themselves.
Closing up the day, Funk Soul Media brought a creative rap workshop. Some enthusiastic students were invited on stage to have a go at shooting their own rap video with equipment such as Sony cameras, drones as well as microphones. This was a chance to show alternative employment paths for young people in NI. Also featured was a live performance (taken from FunkSoul Media’s Youtube page) Newry/South Armagh born and raised hip hop artist Cú Chulainn of his tribute song “Wee Conor”- dedicated to the life of his childhood friend Conor Kearns, a young South Armagh man who tragically died of a drugs overdose aged only 23 years old in March 2019.
Tracy, Training & Development Officer at Bolster Community commented, “With the increasing rise of mental health issues in young men we were delighted to host a full wellbeing day for the year 8, 9, & 10 students of St, Joseph's High school. (Your Youth, Your Wellbeing). Using this type of platform, we are encouraging young men to build resilience and educate them on the importance of looking after their mental health and making healthy informed choices.
There were lots of smiling faces while the young men engaged in a full line up of interactive activities for the day. The young men soaked up the words of inspiration from our guest speakers. They learnt about body language and the importance of standing tall and how to present themselves to the world, the value of staying connected to family and friends and promoting self-confidence. “An all-round brilliant day!” said one of the students.
