Smile

Gorey Community School, Gorey, Co. Wexford (2012)

The Idea
To promote positive mental health in the Gorey community by creating positive reinforcement activities and events.

The ACTION
This team recognised that they could help create a positive atmosphere in their school and local community and promote positive mental health by organising events and activities that made people feel happy. They organised a ‘Smile in the Square Day’ for the local community during which they distributed stickers featuring positive messages, offered face painting and held a bake sale. They organised an art installation and a ‘Jump For Joy’ photographic exhibition in their local library which featured lots of images of people from their community jumping for joy. Having asked people to state an issue that affected their mental health, they used the responses to decorate hundreds of paper aeroplanes for the art installation. The idea was to set the problems free as the aeroplanes flew away.

The Impact
The team worked closely with individuals and organisations such as Brian O’Driscoll and Headstrong to get people thinking and talking about their own mental health in a positive way. They reached out to their peers and also their local community and their activities demonstrated that happiness can be increased through participation in the community and embracing our innate creativity.