Wick High School's message to pupils on mental health
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Wick High School's counsellor has issued a message of support to pupils as part of the current Mental Health Awareness Week.
School counsellor Elaine Cameron said she was aware that this week also coincides with many of pupils undertaking exams or assessments and how it is "often one of the most stressful times" for pupils.
Ms Cameron said: "Whether you pass, or fail, or don’t attain the grades that you hoped – don’t despair. Life is not decided by exam grades.
"Many of you may remember the campaign of #nowrongpath. It is important that you keep this in mind as you stress, pull hair out, stomp about, cry, shout at parents and generally drive yourself and everyone else crazy.
"Your path will take a few twists and turns, you may feel a bit lost, or hit a road block here and there. You may find the path you had hoped for has suddenly seemed to have disappeared.
"The path I thought I was following all of a sudden disappeared in a matter of seconds. Whilst this is not easy to cope with, I survived and found a different, more rewarding path – which has led me to be your school counsellor."
The counsellor said she has supported pupils who did not attain what they hoped for and noted how they all survived, finding a different route to achieve what they wanted or coming to the conclusion that maybe that path was not meant to be and so they went off exploring a new one.
"This year follows the theme of Nature for mental health, so I leave you with one of my photos – who knows where the path leads, you just have to brave enough to follow it to find out."
