Seven hundred Kelly Walsh students and staff went through a life changing experience in November.

The Jae Foundation came to Natrona County and ran through presentations talking about mental health and suicide prevention revolving around Jae Bing’s story. They reminded students and staff to check in on others and themselves when it comes to mental health.

Kelly Walsh is now looking to continue this incentive and allow students to check in on themselves every Monday. The school is looking to implement the boots in a continuous and positive way. 

Students and staff will now be encouraged to wear their boots every Monday. Every Monday these boots will be a symbol to the person that they are loved, valued, cared for and meant to be here. 

While wearing their boots students will fill out the “Great 8” checklist. The Great 8 checklist is composed of eight different topics. Including different life components of health such as: mental, relationships, movement, nutrition, sleep, spiritual, creativity, and financial. 

All these are important components that are essential to students’ overall mental health. Students are asked to evaluate each of these on a green, yellow and red scale. If 3 of the components are in the red then that person’s mental health is not good. 

Students will be asked to work on the areas that they have in red in order to better their mental health and one of the eight will be picked each week to focus on as a class.

Mr. Trupp’s anatomy class was the first class to pioneer the Great 8 checklist. Trupp described it as a success and said “ I think being the guinea pigs, I thought it was great. Kids were totally bought in and were very respectful.”

Trupp sees a bright future for Mental Health Mondays and believes other teachers can use it to benefit their classes. Trupp said, “Mental Health Monday for me is not a counseling moment, it’s just a chance for kids to express how they are doing.” He also said, “I’m just providing them an option to have a voice.” 

Not only was the first Mental Health Monday successful on the teacher’s side but students also found the checklist powerful and beneficial. 

Participant Hannah Adwalpalker said, “Having a program like this in class and taking time to see what parts we need to prioritize is helpful for busy students.” 

She sees the benefit of Mental Health Mondays and said, “I think all of our classmates participated and agreed how important the push on mental health is.”

Mental Health Mondays are on the horizon for Kelly Walsh and can be a powerful step in benefiting students’ mental health.