Last Friday, on October 27th, a host of spooky, quirky and creative costume-attired runners joined the UVSS campaign team to participate in Run for your Brain, a Halloween themed obstacle course with the purpose of promoting mental health on campus. The course, which consisted of fun challenges such as hay bails, quidditch, a spoon race and more, took under a minute to complete with the winner, Hadem Chang, completing the race in 31.74 seconds. Thanks to the support of Original Joes, the participant with the fastest time as well as a few lucky entrants received gift cards ranging from $25 to $50. With over 50 people completing the course and many more stopping by the booths to speak to the fantastic partner organizations that came out to support the campaign, the event was a huge success and a lot of fun for everyone involved!
The goal of Run for your Brain was to promote ReThink Mental Health, the UVSS campaign to support student mental health on campus and promote the different resources available in the community. The obstacle course was designed to be fun but also to encourage students to think about stress. By requiring runners to follow quick instructions with no warning and think about things that caused them stress students were shown that, while pressure and stress are emotions that all students face, there are ways to deal with and manage them in safe, effective and even enjoyable ways. With the support of so many great groups such as the Canadian Mental Health Association, NEED2 Suicide Prevention Education & Support, and the BC Schizophrenia Society, the Run for your Brain event educated students about stress management and the different resources available to them.
Check out the ReThink Mental Health website for more information about resources and other cool events coming up throughout the year!
-Lorissa Corrie, Volunteer Leader