Children’s Mental Health Week gives teachers tools to help raise issues in the classroom
THIS week, schools across Cardiff are taking part in Children’s Mental Health Week with the theme Growing Together.
“It’s about growing emotionally and finding ways to help each other grow,” said a spokesperson from the charity Place2Be, which launched the campaign in 2015.
Statistics from Place2Be, which was founded in 1994, show that one in six young people has a mental health problem.
In addition, the charity’s statistics say half of those with long term mental health problems show symptoms by the time they turn 14.
These are statistics which Place2Be are keen to improve through campaigns such as Children’s Mental Health Week.
Activities began on Monday at Radyr Primary in Cardiff whose year four class were shown the virtual Place2Be primary school assembly.
The assembly features speakers from different schools and famous faces including Strictly dancer Oti Mabuse.
In her message, Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman said: “We are encouraging everyone to explore how they have grown together and to celebrate how, even through difficult times, with the right support, we can all continue to grow and flourish.”
The year one class at Radyr Primary read stories about growing as a person and discussed how much growing they had all done since starting year one in September.
Each day of the week has a different focus. Today’s is on the detrimental effects spending too much time online can have.
Schools across the country have been discussing how to form safe relationships online and how to show responsibility and respect to others online.
A link to the safer internet usage pack can be found here.
The Senedd Research Centre, which provides information to the Welsh Parliament, has released a factsheet to mark Children’s Mental Health Week.
This contains a “young person’s mental health toolkit” which has helplines and resources for members of the Welsh Parliament to use to help constituents with mental health issues.
People are directed to mental health charities including Papyrus, the suicide prevention charity; Meic, the emergency texting service and Charlie Waller Trust which supports those who self-harm.
Place2Be uses a wide variety of services such as in-school support, expert training and resources to help staff better understand children’s mental health.
