Children’s Mental Health Week
We celebrated Children’s Mental Health Week for the first time this year. The theme was #beyourself, sharing uniqueness and individuality.
Across the all schools the CSMs ran coffee mornings, assemblies and a whole school activity which the children did in their classes.
Parent feedback following the coffee morning where there were group discussions about what is children’s mental health? Why do children have low self-esteem? How can we support our children to feel proud of being themselves and being unique?
“I worry about my child’s self-esteem, but also the parents and how we all seem to judge one another now days”
“I will try the tips and hints, I am also going to buy the story book, so we can have the conversation at home”
“Talking about mental health is really difficult”
“I am leaving feeling really positive”
“Thinking of qualities which are unique about me is really hard, I am so much better at thinking about other people”
“This activity is such a good idea – to get us thinking about ourselves” “I am special and unique because I left Afghanistan during the Taliban, I have never been to school, but I can read and write, and I help my children with their maths homework”
Feedback from the children following the assembly where the CSM read a story about a spoon who has low self-esteem.
“I liked the spoon – he was jealous about his friends, but they were also jealous about him”
“I liked what you said about everybody being different”
“I am the only Sikh in my class and don’t cut my hair”
A year 3 boy came to the lunch time drop in to talk about his big feelings around being much smaller than the other children in his class. With the CSM he explained how it made him feel sad feeling different from his peers and that sometimes they made jokes about him. The CSM helped him to feel more positive about being different. During the Children’s Mental Health Week assembly, when the whole school was asked ‘What is special and unique about you?’. He raised his hand and shouted, ‘I am small’. His mother also got in touch with the school to say that he had been much more positive at home and she had noticed a difference in his behaviour.
A HUGE thank you to all of the schools who participated and helped us to raise £4,222