On February 7th – 13th the anti-bullying ambassadors ran a workshop to raise awareness of the Children’s Mental Health Week

The theme this year was ‘Growing Together’; Not just the physical changes that a young person goes through in their lives, but the experiences, challenges and setbacks that can help them to grow and change.  These create a healthy social and emotional development and the ability to manage feelings and motivations which are needed to grow and learn.  But all this is only possible with the help of others in their environment.

1 in 6 children and young people have a diagnosable mental health problem, and many more struggle with challenges from bullying to bereavement. Peer support provides one of the best kinds of support by sharing similar life experiences. These common personal experiences can create meaningful relationships, understanding and empathy between peers who may otherwise feel misunderstood, disconnected and isolated.

During the children’s mental health week, various ‘growth’ activities were set up.  These were intended to get students to think about how they have grown and how others have helped them in that process:

Activities such as:

‘What growth looks like;  drawing the meaning of growth’

‘Letters to a younger self’

‘Group opportunities to build together’

Growth

Carmen and Naomi drawing their ‘Growth’ pictures

Letters to a younger self

Building together

Anish, Isaac, Max and Tanzil working on building together

Some of the anti-bullying students thoughts on the event