The Robb Nash Project, with roots in Kleefeld, has received a sizeable grant in order to continue helping students struggling with their mental health. 

Robb Nash, who grew up in Kleefeld, works with schools to harness the power of music and storytelling to encourage discussions about mental health. As a teenager, Nash crashed into a semi, shattering his skull. The trauma and lingering pain from his accident led him to suicidal thoughts for many years. 

Now, he works with students and his presentation addresses topics related to mental health such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, addiction, bullying and suicidal ideation. Not only that, but the Robb Nash Project also has a school curriculum taught to students. 

Just recently, the Canada Post Community Foundation announced $1.2 million in grants for community initiatives that strive to enhance the lives of children and youth. There were 84 organizations that received funding, including three that received $50,000 signature grants. One of those three is the Robb Nash Project. 

"It's one of the biggest grants we've gotten," says Nash. "It's really remarkable."

According to Nash, this funding will help them with their goal of reaching 18,000 kids across the country this year. Nash explains that there are a lot of costs involved with providing their curriculum to students. He notes they are trying to provide the curriculum for free and the $50,000 grant will go a long way towards reaching these goals. 

Robb Nash at cheque presentation

"If you would have told me back when we started this that we would be getting grants like this for $50,000 from Canada Post, I don't know if I would have believed it," admits Nash. "This started with such a small vision of just getting to a few communities, but every time that we've made a goal of trying to take it a step further, the vision has gotten bigger, and we've just seen so many amazing things happen like this."

When it comes to kids dealing with mental health struggles, Nash says the COVID-19 pandemic did not help the situation. He says children were being separated from their friends for far too long, noting kids need to be together, they cannot isolate but should be playing and communicating.

"I thought if they are going to do this in our country and all over the world, this is not going to be good," he recalls. "And we're hearing from schools every day about how tough the last three years has been on young people."

Nash explains their school curriculum was really born out of the pandemic. He notes during that time there were so many schools and communities that were reaching out to the Robb Nash Project because of how kids were struggling with isolation. Out of that came the curriculum, put together by an individual with a master's degree in curriculum writing and with input from school teachers, social workers, councillors and psychologists. 

As part of the curriculum, students will watch a short video telling Robb Nash's story and then the kids are asked to journal about what they saw and eventually about their own struggles. Nash adds there has been a definite shift in the struggles facing young people today. For example, he says when they first started working with schools 12 years ago, the struggles being felt by grade 12 students are the same ones facing grade eight students today. And, what grade eight students were struggling with 12 years ago, are now the challenges facing grade five students. 

Nash says one thing he is noticing is that these days people are more willing to talk about the struggles they are going through. He suggests that of those taking their curriculum, 20 per cent of the students journaling about their own stories are reaching out and admitting they are going through some challenges. He urges teachers to watch for the students who are not engaged in class to find out what is bothering them and get them to talk about it. 

The curriculum is currently being taught in nine provinces and one territory. Nash says they never wanted to charge for the curriculum, noting there is not a lot of funding for mental health support for schools. As a result, the Robb Nash Project relies on fundraising and grants such as the one from the Canada Post Community Foundation. 

Nash shares the story of a young boy he met in northern Saskatchewan. Not only did this boy have a suicide note, but he had a suicide book, containing over 100 pages of things that he hated about himself and outlining instructions for what people should do with his belongings after he died. Nash challenged him to channel his story, and even though his left arm ends at his elbow, Nash encouraged him to learn to play guitar. Two years later this boy has learned to play guitar and is now touring with Robb Nash, 

Nash invites any community wishing to get this curriculum into their school, to reach out to robbnash.ca.

 

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