St Patrick’s PTFA Food and Mood event was held on Thursday 22nd November at 7pm. Over twenty people gathered enjoying some delicious home baked treats along with a cup of tea to start us off. Firstly, David Duly from Action Mental Health spoke on the importance of being aware of Mental Health. Just in the same way that we are aware we should look after our physical health we should be aware that we need to consider and look after our mental health as well. We had great fun using the iPads to interact with fun quizzes and to share our ideas for improving our mental health through a Pictionaryesque round encouraging us to think about the 5 ways to wellbeing.
- Connect
- Be active
- Keep Learning
- Give to others
- Be mindful.
Whilst we had a great laugh together at some of our artistic efforts, we also realised we are incredibly lucky to have so many opportunities around us in Glenariffe to incorporate the 5 ways to wellbeing into our daily lives, from exploring the forest park to walking along the beach or joining in with the PTFA!
David was an entertaining and enthusiastic speaker who ensured that this serious topic was examined in an engaging way!
The evening didn’t stop there! Una Condron was also on hand to provide us with a cookery demonstration and to speak about the links between food and mood. Whilst discussing the importance of considering the ‘fuel’ we put into our bodies Una effortlessly demonstrated how to make a Quinoa Super Salad and a Thai Rainbow Noodle Salad. As we all know women are excellent at multi-tasking but Una was particularly amazing at sharing insightful information and tips on how to eat well for wellbeing whilst chopping, shredding and mixing the most wonderful array of delicious ingredients. Fortunately, we were all able to sample these delicious salads on the night and I for one have made the Quinoa Super Salad since! On the night we left a donations bucket for anyone who wanted to contribute and some of those in attendance generously gave a total of £68 towards PTFA funds.
The food and mood evening was part of a series of events the PTFA have organised to raise awareness of mental health and emotional well-being with parents and children, including the family fun evening held in June, ‘Healthy Me’ programme for the older classes in the school and Laughter Yoga for the children, which we are looking forward to in January. This has all be made possible by securing funding from the Public Health Agency which is managed by North Antrim Community Network.
We look forward to you joining us for our next event which will be held in the spring.
Mary Rose Black, PTFA Chairperson
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