Children’s Mental Health Week (5 to 11 February 2024)
Children’s Mental Health Week runs from Monday 5th to Sunday 11th February 2024. This year the theme is ‘My Voice Matters’. The aim of the week is to empower children and young people by giving them the tools they need to help express themselves. When we feel empowered it has a positive impact on our wellbeing.
Place2Be has great resources to help empower children and young people and help them to say “My Voice Matters”. Find out all about the theme by watching the video.
CENMAC’s Thursday Thirty – Supporting pupil mental wellbeing with Stix’ interactive technology
Thursday 7th March 2024, 15:30 – 16.00 (BST)
In this online 30 minute session we will find out about Stix Remotes. Stix are a sensory product designed to provide families with the tools to support and maintain their mental wellbeing.
Audio instructions combined with sensory feedback guide children through activities that teach mental health coping strategies that children enjoy playing.
Liam from Stix will talk through how the technology works to support wellbeing, the mindfulness activities involved, and the impact the Stix Remotes are having on children in the school setting.
Session joining details
We will email you the Microsoft Teams joining details a couple of days before the training session so keep an eye out in your email inbox. Please check your spam or junk mail folder and contact Annabel at newsandevents@cenmac.com if you do not have the joining details one day before the event.
Widgit resources to support children and young people’s mental health
Widgit has created a great Wellbeing Pack of symbol-supported books and activites to support children’s wellbeing. The pack was produced in partnership with Dr Jerricah Holder, Educational Psychologist, and contains symbolised books and activities to support children’s understanding of wellbeing and self-care.
www.widgit.com/resources
Urgent Mental Health Support
– 24/7 Crisis Support
Every mental health trust in London has put in place a 24/7 crisis line for people of all ages – children, young people and adults. The lines which are free to call can provide advice to those in a crisis. These crisis lines are supported by trained mental health advisors 365 days a year. You can find the 24/7 crisis line numbers using the NHS Service Finder (link below) but the table provides all of the telephone numbers in London.
> Urgent Mental Health Helpline
Download the table below:
Urgent Mental Health Support For Children Young People And Families
Partnership for Children
Partnership for Children is an independent charity which promotes the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children, both in the UK and in many countries around the world. We produce mental health promotion programmes for primary schools that teach children skills for life: how to cope with everyday difficulties, how to communicate with and get on with other people, and build self-awareness and emotional resilience.
Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends programmes have been independently evaluated and found to improve children’s coping skills, social skills, emotional literacy and reduce bullying. There is also an adapted version of Zippy’s Friends for pupils with SEND.
If you are interested in delivering Zippy’s Friends or Apple’s Friends to your class, please visit Partnership for Children’s website for more information about training courses for teachers. Our website also has free downloadable resources to help children talk about feelings and cope with difficult situations.