If you’ve ever made a donation to WTAW or been to an event supporting our work, please keep reading to see how your contributions are making a difference.
Last week we received a message from students St Joseph’s High School, Aberdeen wanting to let us know that they’d been wearing our WTAW Rainbow socks at a NSW Catholic Colleges hockey carnival in Newcastle.
Year 10 student Meg Southcombe spoke on behalf of her team mates and here’s what she had to say:
“Everyone asked about the socks because they’d all rocked up in these boring old socks and we rocked up in our cool Rainbow socks. We told them it was it was raising awareness about wellbeing and how important it is, because poor mental health can affect everyone.
“We sent you these photos so these kids from all over NSW can see us on social media and start following WTAW. We want them to know about all the awesome stuff that is happening in our schools so they can start doing it in theirs.
“I’ve recently done the leadership summit that was led by the students who went to Adelaide earlier this year and it was just amazing. It made us all really aware about what we can do as youth to help wellbeing and how we can help one another.
“It’s had such an impact on us all, especially with the boys who are opening up and talking about stuff. It’s got everyone in our year group sharing what they’ve gone through in life and we’ve become really close.
“People know that they’re not alone and that it’s perfectly fine to have an off day. People are just feeling better about themselves.
“We’re all doing the Mental Health First Aid training next week and I can’t wait.”
The socks were important for another reason.
“We’ve all felt the terrible impact of the recent passing a former student, whose brother is in our year and the socks are our way of showing our support to him. They show that we care about mental health and that there will always be someone to talk to.”
(Please note the funeral for Ryan Pickett will be held at 1.00pm tomorrow Tuesday 27 August, at St Lukes Anglican Church Scone. The Pickett family have requested donations to WTAW in lieu of flowers).