Find new ways to express yourself this Children’s Mental Health Week
Run by children’s mental health charity Place2Be, Children’s Mental Health Week highlights the importance of looking after your wellbeing from an early age. This year’s theme is all about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through creativity. This could be through art, music, writing and poetry, dance and drama, photography, and film, and doing activities that make you feel good.
But it is important to remember that expressing yourself is not about being the best at something or putting on a performance for others. It is about finding a way to show who you are and how you see the world, that can help you feel good about yourself.
Place2Be, which supplies counselling and mental health support and training in schools, believes that children should not have to face mental health problems alone, and highlights:
- Around three children in every primary school class have experienced a mental health problem, and many more struggle with challenges from bullying to bereavement.
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1 in 6 children and young people have a diagnosable mental health condition.
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50% of people with lifelong mental health problems first experience symptoms by the age of 14.
Get involved
Come to our online workshop on 6th February, 10.30-12.30 to help improve mental health care for young people aged 17-25.
Tell us your experiences of young person’s mental health services in Sussex, to help the NHS make moving to adult mental health care work better. Your experiences will help the people who plan and provide mental health services locally make sure that they understand what matters to you.
With the majority of children at home due to the current Coronavirus lockdown, Place2Be will be holding a free online assembly discussing the theme of Children’s Mental Health Week and how children and young people can get involved at home.
The assembly, hosted by Blue Peter’s Lindsey Russell and CBBC presenter Rhys Stephenson, will be available to all schools and families on Monday 1 February.
You can find out more and get free online resources to take part in Children’s Mental Health Week by visiting the website: www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk
Our work supporting Children's Mental Health:
- Read our Spotlight report on Time 4 Children. They provide free one-to-one Emotional Listening Support for Children who find it hard to express their thoughts, feelings, experiences and worries safely.
- We worked in partnership with Emma and a team of students called Mind & Soul, who have created a guidance leaflet for young people about their mental health.
- Download our Youth Pack - COVID-19 Edition. The activities in this pack will allow you (young people) to use your experiences of how you’ve been affected by COVID-19. These resources are intended as a starting point to kick start your own ideas and interests.
