Mental health advocate Michelle Golebiowski was impressed with how open students in Austin and MacGregor were at yesterday's presentations.

"Once I started talking about the losses and coping strategies, especially the young elementary students -- I couldn't believe it -- they were one at a time raising their hands and sharing stories of how they maybe lost a pet. It was just so amazing how genuine and carefree they were about being open about things like that."

Golebiowski says it's always a better idea to engage the students on a positive level.

"Using scare tactics and things that make young people anxious is the opposite of what we want to do. We want to show them the strategies and the solutions, we want to show them there's hope and that it's okay for them to reach out. Who the people are to reach out to and how to go about it, and we want to make sure they're equipped to handle life challenges."

She also spoke to a few individuals in Portage la Prairie in the evening and was thankful to everyone who took part.