More than 600 elementary school students from across Niagara will be at Brock University for Don\u2019t Hide in the Den-Badgers Speak Out, a mental health awareness event Thursday.<\/p>\n
The outreach event is an initiative by the Brock men\u2019s basketball program to help educate Niagara youths in Grades 6-8 about the importance of mental health awareness.<\/p>\n
The event starts at 10:25 a.m. with both head coach Charles Kissi and former men\u2019s team player Matt Marshall addressing the crowd and presenting a cheque for more than $1,000 to Pathstone Mental Health.<\/p>\n
Speaking Thursday will be all-star Badgers forward Dani Elgadi, as well as Matthew Beard, a Grade 12 student from E.L Crossley secondary school. Both speakers will address the issue of mental health and the importance of creating awareness in youth to combat the stigma and encourage support.<\/p>\n
Also talking to the students will be Brock Department of Child and Youth Studies Professor John McNamara, who will be talking about what defines mental health.<\/p>\n
Kissi said it\u2019s important to teach kids that there are people around that they can talk to about their mental health struggles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think mental health is a new problem, but it\u2019s something we\u2019re beginning to understand better. We\u2019re starting to identify it in our young people more and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about giving them some strategies, some coping mechanisms and some alternatives to the feeling that they\u2019re helpless in many cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
The elementary school students will have lunch and then watch the Badgers host Redeemer College in a pre-season men\u2019s basketball game in the Bob Davis Gymnasium at noon.<\/p>\n