Building a Healthy Community Together

This week I had the opportunity to attend the annual Red Ribbon Week breakfast at Lyons Township High School.  While Red Ribbon Week is traditionally a campaign related to being drug free, the Red Ribbon Week breakfast at LT expanded its focus to living a healthy life in general.

Red Ribbon Week Poster at PMS

Administrators and counseling staff from LT and feeder school districts gathered together to hear presentations from a variety of community organizations.  Gurrie Middle School principal Ed Hood spoke about how their school implemented educational opportunities for students and parents through Elyssa's Mission and SOS (Signs of Suicide) to proactively provide depression and suicide prevention training to students, staff, and parents.  We also heard from NAMI (National Association for Mental Illness), who provide a plethora of resources related to mental illness for students, families, and the community.  They also sponsor a drop-in family support group the second and fourth Thursdays of the month, which meets at the First Congregational Church in La Grange.  Information about the Community Wellness Center was shared, which hosts free monthly information sessions related to mental health and wellness.  The topics for November's sessions relate to school refusal, dealing with fear and anxiety, and wellness.  Rosecrance, a private not-for-profit organization that focuses on substance abuse prevention, shared information about their recently opened a facility in La Grange that provides a variety of services related to substance abuse education and recovery.  Finally, a representative from the Coalition for a Drug Free Lyons Township shared information about their efforts to make our community a safer, healthier place.

As a result of the wealth of resources shared, we have added a Community Resources page to the Pleasantdale websites.  This page can be found from the district website under the "community" tab or from the middle school website under the "information" tab.  If you have additional resources you feel the community would benefit from, please feel free to comment on this post so we can include additional valuable resources.  We hope these resources are just the beginning of a community-wide effort to promote healthy, happy choices for our students and families.