Browse > Home / Community / Free hugs for Mental Health Week

Free hugs for Mental Health Week

Posted on October 7, 2008, 1:01pm and updated on October 9, 2008 at 6:53 am

Mental Health Week

Pioneers basketball coach Ray DeWitt shows Jasmine Grassi (left) and Abbey and Katie Dyson the true meaning of a hug. Ray and other celebrities gave Centro Plaza shoppers free hugs as part of Mental Health Week to promote the importance of what a hug means.

Members of the Pioneers Basketball team were giving out free hugs to shoppers in Centro Mount Gambier today as part of Mental Health Week 2008.

The quirky initiative was part of Mental Health Week’s theme for South Australia of “Mental health: what do you know?”, which aims to encourage people to take their own steps to help maintain their wellbeing. It has been organised by the Anxiety Disorders Association South East.

“We trialled the concept for the first time locally last year, and had more than 400 willing takers,” the organisation’s chief executive Helen Williams said.

“We came across a lot of people who had lost loved ones and never had a loved one to hug any more, so that was very heartwarming to think that the importance of being able to hug someone is something we just take for granted.”

The “Hug Fest” is among a range of activities being held across the Limestone Coast this week to educate, activate and engage the people of South Australia about mental health and related issues.

The week-long celebrations began on Sunday with a Family Fun Day at Valley Lake hosted by the Migrant Resource Centre.

On Wednesday a morning tea and animal nursery will be held at Mount Gambier’s Old Gaol and community garden.

Local events for Mental Health Week:

Mental Health Week events — Upload a Document to Scribd


Tags: , ,  

Comments

Comments are closed.