Students suffering from high anxiety and depression have been given a new lease on their educational experience thanks to a mental health initiative at George McDougall High School.

Garry Bell, Principal of George Mac said that the program and classroom were launched last year to target students who could have potentially fallen through the cracks and dropped out due to mental health concerns.

"The basic over arching theme of the (class)room is to really provide a safe and caring place for the students who traditionally wouldn't be able to work in the school for whatever reason," said Jim Reilly, Assistance Principle.

Thanks to a $500 grant from the Educational Partnerships Foundation (TEPF), Bell and Reilly are able to expand on the program by using the money for equipment such as stand up desks, guest speakers, and bus fees for field trips to places such as the University of Calgary to show the Students what is available to them.

Bell said that there are approximately 10 students who are utilizing the program with some participating full time, while others use it as a check in when they need a safe place to go.

"The goal is to integrate them into the 'regular' and I use that in quotation marks, classroom settings," said Reilly.

With the current changes that are being made in Alberta Education, Bell said that it is becoming easier to think creatively to help these students.

"We're in an educational world where we have the flexibility and we have the mandate from Alberta Education right on down, to be creative and to be flexible and to be supportive."