Mental youth program comes to EMCS to raise psychosis awareness

ReachOut Psychosis will be touring high schools and middle schools in the Victoria area, Nov 25-29.

This in-school rock and comedy presentation works to educate highest risk group — 16-25 years —  on psychosis awareness and identification.  Three per cent of youth directly affected by psychosis, a serious brain condition. It will be presenting at Edward Milne Community School at 12:55 p.m. on Wednesday Nov 27.

ReachOut Psychosis will be touring high schools and middle schools in the Victoria area, Nov 25-29.  The tour raises awareness about psychosis and mental illness. ReachOut Psychosis makes this message meaningful to B.C.’s youth with free school presentations. By identifying psychosis as a serious, but treatable medical condition of the brain this program works to help youth and their friends and teachers recognize it early and get effective help. If properly diagnosed at early stages, medical treatment has the ability to not just turn young lives around, but to save lives. Teen suicide statistics related to youth mental illness are staggering.

Performances by Vancouver band Frog Head and tap dancer Susan Nase are interspersed with playful interactive psychosis information and tons of prizes from our sponsors to help educate young people about psychosis.  Interviews can be arranged.

ReachOut is a dynamic and highly effective performance touring the province since 2005, performing in gyms and auditoriums to more than 22,000 students annually. We performed to our 100,000th youth audience member last year. ReachOut is a program of the BC Schizophrenia Society and HereToHelp. The presentation provides resources and information for friends, siblings, teachers and parents.

“It exposed them to a lot of information which the students wouldn’t normally talk about in a manner which was just accessible and appropriate to their kind of thinking and their way of seeing the world.”

Submitted by Andrew Scholfiled, Vice Principal, Kwantlan Park

Secondary

 

Sooke News Mirror