Treats for R U OK Day
Thursday the 13th is R U OK Day a day to ask your friends how they are doing and strike up a conversation. Of course you shouldn't just ask people how they are on R U OK Day but it's a good reminder that a conversation could save someone's life.
As someone who deals with a mental illness, I am aware of how mental health can affect everyone differently and just how important it is to check up on those around you.
As R U OK Day falls on a day when I am at TAFE I thought it would be fun to give my classmates a treat. These are super easy to make and even though I hand wrote the labels (if I had made anymore than 12 I would've typed them up).
To make these I just bought a pack of fun size chocolate bars - in my case it was M&Ms as they are one of my favourite snacks (and they were on special), I then grabbed some postcard sized ReachOut exam stress resource cards which I had on hand (as they are for my classmates) but you could easily just print out a list of mental health resources or printout one of the many infographics ReachOut has online like this one. I grabbed some cute post it notes and hand wrote R U OK? With the phrase: A conversation could save a life and then stuck it on the pack and stapled both to the card. These took no time at all to make and I have no doubt these will be well appreciated by my classmates.
You could also do one of the following:
As someone who deals with a mental illness, I am aware of how mental health can affect everyone differently and just how important it is to check up on those around you.
As R U OK Day falls on a day when I am at TAFE I thought it would be fun to give my classmates a treat. These are super easy to make and even though I hand wrote the labels (if I had made anymore than 12 I would've typed them up).
To make these I just bought a pack of fun size chocolate bars - in my case it was M&Ms as they are one of my favourite snacks (and they were on special), I then grabbed some postcard sized ReachOut exam stress resource cards which I had on hand (as they are for my classmates) but you could easily just print out a list of mental health resources or printout one of the many infographics ReachOut has online like this one. I grabbed some cute post it notes and hand wrote R U OK? With the phrase: A conversation could save a life and then stuck it on the pack and stapled both to the card. These took no time at all to make and I have no doubt these will be well appreciated by my classmates.
You could also do one of the following:
- Include 2 chocolates along with a note asking them to strike up a conversation with a friend over a sweet treat asking how they are - I actually did this when I was working in an office and left a pile of them in the break room, so many people thought they were a good idea and it was great to hear people talking mental health in the office.
- Write R U OK on packs of gum and give them out to friends - alternatively you could write them on the wrapper of individual sticks of gum and offer them out to people (because I swear with people once they know you have gum they flock to you like seagulls!).
- If cups of tea or coffee are more your style you could attach R U OK labels to individually wrapped tea bags and coffee sachets - this encourages people to sit down and think about how they are over a hot drink.
- Write R U OK on cupcakes with icing - a local bakery is actually doing this and it would be a great idea to bring cupcakes for your workmates for a special morning tea on Thursday.
- Or simply ask a friend if they ok and mean it :)
Remember that asking if someone is ok shouldn't just be done on R U OK Day but every day of the year and sometimes you may need to ask someone multiple times to get an honest answer. For those who answer that they are not ok, it's ok to be not ok and telling someone who cares about how you are feeling will help you through these not ok times.
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