R U OK? Day 2026: Connecting with Local High School Students

This R U OK? Day, the headspace Joondalup team spent time out in the community, connecting with students at some of our local high schools and encouraging young people to start conversations about mental health and wellbeing.

Throughout the day, students took part in a range of activities designed to encourage connection, kindness and conversations about how we are feeling.

One of our activities was our “Take a Compliment, Leave a Compliment” jar, which was a big hit with students. Students were invited to write a kind or encouraging message for someone else, then take a compliment that had been left by another student.

It was wonderful to see the jar fill up with thoughtful, positive and genuinely lovely compliments. The activity was a simple way to encourage students to recognise the good qualities in the people around them and spread a little kindness throughout their school community.

We also ran an engaging “Memotions” activity, where students were shown different memes and invited to guess what they thought the person in the image might be feeling.

The activity highlighted how differently people can interpret the same image. What one person sees as happiness, another person might interpret as embarrassment, frustration or something completely different.

This gave us an opportunity to explore an important message about checking in with others: we cannot always know how someone is feeling just by looking at them. The best way to know how someone is really feeling is to ask.

R U OK? Day is an important reminder that meaningful conversations do not need to be complicated. Taking the time to ask someone how they are going, genuinely listen to their response and let them know you are there can help strengthen connections and create supportive communities.

We would like to thank the local schools and students who welcomed us into their communities and took part in our R U OK? Day activities. It was fantastic to see so many young people getting involved, sharing kindness and thinking about the importance of checking in with one another.