Nate's Mental Health Fundraising Page
I wish to clarify, placing fundraising initiatives and promotions across these school platforms is at the discretion of the principal. Such is the importance that I place on mental health and general wellbeing, this particular initiative meet the criteria to share within our community.
Thanks for your understanding and support,
Simon
Nate's mum Nat wrote an incredible article on LinkedIN based on the reason why Nate is doing this which has sparked so much interest across various networks.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7002946080673869824/
Here is the full article in case LinkedIN isn’t accessible:
This is Nate. Nate loves hanging with friends, art club, cooking, basketball, footy, Nintendo, and waterslides. He is empathic, helpful, kind and an overall optimistic child. Nate is a ‘typical’ 9-year-old. And at times, like a typical 9-year-old, Nate also comes home from school feeling upset for being teased or left out, feeling angry when his younger brother antagonises (and vice versa), or feeling self-conscious talking in front of his class. Yes, Nate is that typical child.
Lately, Nate has been coming home confused and disappointed when he doesn’t understand his friend's behaviour. ‘He just wants to sit on the bench and not join in even when I ask him.’ ‘He’s not listening to me anymore.’ ‘He’s not passing to me on the footy field because he says I’m rubbish.’ ‘He’s just not coming to school anymore'. He holds onto these school behaviours; it offends him; it keeps him awake. Yes, Nate is starting to witness mood swings, identity, comparison, and competition. He is becoming a ‘tween’. And as it’s a different time that Nate is now entering; it is a more serious time.
A recent report by the Australian Psychology Society has found children aged 6-12 are showing a sharp rise in several mental illnesses and symptoms with Social Anxiety Disorder (45%), ADHD (42%), peer relationship difficulties (39%), problematic screen use (36%) and educational and learning concerns (35%) being the five largest increases.
Combined with climate change, natural disasters, and cost of living stress for families, children have never needed more mental health support than now.
Myself, a child psychologist before moving into corporate knows the signs and symptoms. A far from perfect parent (what’s perfect anyway?!) I count myself lucky to have worked and helped so many little clients over 15 years. Children who feel good about themselves are more able to resist negative peer pressure and make better choices for themselves. This is an important time for children to gain a sense of responsibility along with their growing independence.
And so explaining this to Nate, he decided to act. Running 10km for children’s mental health to raise funds for Beyond Blue. A feat not easily won, training 3 days a week; starting from scratch (got to love the couch to 10k app). Tears, smiles, defiance, self-doubt; Nate has felt it. And all I asked was to show up, give it his all and believe he can do it; small steps. Nate had a goal, he had a vision, he had someone by his side and he received validation.
Like you, we want our future leaders to be confident, resilient, self-assured, and emotionally intelligent. Let’s get behind such a worthy cause to create more action-oriented mental health programs to help our kids navigate this complex time.
Believe in the Nates. To donate to Nate's page for his 10 km run (and some words of wisdom!) -