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Page 9 Register with Oakville Be A Donor Student wins Nursing Week art contest Health www.insidehalton.com 916 Winston Churchill Blvd. t k ill www.carstaroakville.com Collision & Glass Service 905-845-7579 905-847-2595 2212 Wyecroft Rd. dentistoakville.com 905-842-6030 Stay Connected! Thursday, May 8, 2014 | 32 pages A Publication of Metroland Media Group Connected to your community - $1.00 incl. tax Weather for Oakville, ON Thu Fri Sat Sun F R E E F U N F O R Y O U T H S 13° 7° 21° 10° 17° 12° 15° 10° School boards focusing on mental health of students by John Bkila Oakville Beaver Staff by Abigail Cukier SAVIS ready to celebrate changes in attitudes Special to the Beaver The Halton District School Board (HDSB) has its homework cut out for it this week as it recognizes Education Week and Children's Mental Health Week (May 4-10). While celebrating student excellence, the board is also raising awareness about youth mental health issues. The Halton Catholic District School Board is doing the same. Schools are holding various events, celebrating achievement, and increasing awareness of mental health in youths and available treatment options. "We recognize that positive mental health is a signi cant factor that contributes to overall student success and has been a focus for our work in the Halton District School Board," David Boag, superintendent of Education-Student Services, stated in a news release. see Public on p.3 This week is National Youth Week (May 1-7) and the Town of Oakville is offering seven days of free and fun events for youths aged 11-19 at locations across Oakville. Saturday, Kinoak Arena hosted an Urban Art workshop for graf ti artists as well as a skateboard competition. The lone graf ti artist, Brendan Doyle,13, works on a 20-foot urban art piece on a stretch of vinyl. He got partway through a second piece before rain halted his work. For more information, visit www.oakville.ca/culturerec/programs-youth.html. | photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) When it opened 25 years ago, it took 333 crisis calls. Last year, it handled 619 -- and did a whole lot more. And it did so in a landscape of attitudes that's changing, albeit slowly, for the better. Opening in 1989, SAVIS Halton (Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services (SAVIS) assisted 333 clients on its crisis hotline in its rst year. That number tripled every year for many years, says one of the founding members, Bev LeFrancois. In 2013/14, Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services (SAVIS) took 619 crisis calls and provided 354 public education and training events and 1,116 hours of counselling. In fact, 270 clients accessed the counselling program and 1,187 people attended group sessions. "We started with a telephone line out of Halton Women's Place. We took it over in 1989 as the Halton Rape Crisis Centre," LeFrancois said. "Then we added peer counselling and realized we needed group support. Then we looked at community attitudes and started doing education in the schools. At that time, if a woman was sexually assaulted, the attitude was `you deserve it.' see Lunafest on p.11 saunderssaxtonwinter.ca 905.845.8908 SAUNDERS, SAXTON & WINTER Wendy Saunders Sales Representative 132 Allan Street, Oakville, ON L6J 3N5 Kim Saxton Sales Representative Ruth Anne Winter Broker Sotheby's International Realty Canada, Brokerage. Not intended to solicit propeties already under contract.