Reflective Essay on University Mental Health Day

Running head: ASSESSMENT 4
Reflective essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ASSESSMENT 4
Description of the event- The event was the University Mental Health Day, organised
at the Parramatta campus on April 26, 2018. The event was organised at the Western Sydney
University, with an aim of increasing our awareness on mental health and wellbeing needs. It
encouraged all the university staff across the campus to support us for managing our optimal
wellbeing. The event involved several activities such as, Healthy Headspace Hunt, where we
were provided the opportunity to showcase our productivity. This required us to form groups
with our peers and complete several activities that would promote our mental health. I
participate in the activities related to cooking demonstration and chocolate mindfulness. I
played the role of a volunteer and learnt the art of cooking a healthy meal with the samples
that were provided to us. The chocolate mindfulness at first seemed a little frivolous to me.
However, the activity helped me practice mindfulness meditation. I could reconnect with my
senses and considered the activity to be immensely valuable.
Description of the four professions- The role of a health promotion officer involves
caring about people and assisting them to achieve optimal health outcomes. These officer
require technical knowledge and skills to apply the social determinants of health and other
promotion models, while implementing health promotion programs (Malik, Blake & Suggs,
2014).
A therapeutic recreation specialist conducts activities that involves crafts, exercise,
and community outings, with the aim of assisting patients and disabled individuals to increase
or maintain their level of physical and mental wellbeing. These therapeutic specialists work
in hospitals, medical centres, and private rehabilitation facilities (Coyne & Fullerton, 2014).
These specialists utilise recreation or leisure as a major form of intervention to address needs
of their clients.

2ASSESSMENT 4
Public health officers have the role of focusing on the overall health of the
community, in place of individual patients. They conduct the responsibility of educating the
public on specific health risks and also provide information on healthy living strategies
(Beard et al., 2016). Furthermore, their role also requires them to create certain programs that
would minimize risks of the disease and prevent infection spread.
Health services managers, also known as healthcare administrators are involved in
planning, directing and coordinating medical and healthcare services, by managing an entire
health facility, clinical department or medical practice (Ozcan, 2014).
Reflective description- On the day of the event, there were three therapeutic
recreation specialists, and one health promotion officer at the University Campus. The
therapeutic recreation specialists organised events such as, the chocolate mindfulness training
and healthy headspace hunt. They helped us to select the games that involved our favourite
leisure activities, such as physical education, art and craft and problem thinking games. They
also ensured that all the equipment and materials necessary for the events were in place. The
senior recreation specialist directed the group activities that were aimed at improving our
awareness on mental health and functioning. She also promoted a sense of team work among
us.
The public health officer conducted a session through which they described the idea
behind hosting the event and also helped all students like us to understand the continuous
threats that our mental health and wellbeing are being subjected to. He also provided
information about necessary mental health resources that we can use for enhancing our
quality of life. In addition, presence of the health promotion officer and the health services
manager would have improved our health literacy, allowed us to make healthy lifestyle