Carlisle Eden Mind are now offering free workshops to primary and secondary schools aimed at raising awareness of mental health issues, combating stigma and discrimination and enabling young people to feel more confident to seek support when experiencing mental health problems.
One in ten young people will experience a mental health problem during their school years, equating to over 8,000 young people across Cumbria during any one year.
Research conducted by Time to Change, England’s largest attempt to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination, suggests 70% of young people with a mental health problem have faced stigma and discrimination from their friends which has compounded their distress further and often stopped them reaching out for help. Over 40% of young people surveyed said stigma attached to their mental health problem had stopped them going to schools for periods of time.
Secondary Schools
We can offer your school a range of assembly presentations, workshops and lessons integrated with your current curriculum across PHSE and Citizenship, and covering all age ranges. Workshops and lessons would focus on;
• Dispelling some of the myths around mental health issues
• Facilitating students to explore their own assumptions about mental health issues
• Exploring the damage caused by stigma and discrimination
• Encouraging positive responses to peers presenting with mental health issues and distress
• Broadening knowledge about support available to young people locally
Sessions combine multi-media presentation with real life case studies and practical activities and are aimed at making the subject both engaging and impactful. Work created by the pupils during the workshops can be retained by the school for display and we will leave a package of information leaflets and other resources for your use. The impact of the workshops will be assessed by snapshot surveys before and after the visit to school, the results of these surveys and summaries of the sessions will be made available to the school.
Sessions are free and have been developed with support of Time To Change England’s biggest attempt to challenge Mental Health Stigma and discrimination, led by Mind and Rethink. Where there is sufficient interest we can also actively support schools and students to engage further in this campaign, exploring student led initiatives and whole school events.
Carlisle Eden Mind is also a local delivery partner in Cumbria County Council's Headstart programme. We currently deliver Mental Health First Aid and Peer Support training to year 9 pupils in several schools accross Carlisle and Barrow
Primary Schools
We can offer a range of session tailored to the differing age groups in your school. These can include;
• Basic mental health awareness including understanding different terms such as depression, anxiety etc and the spectrum of mental wellbeing.
• Exploring mental health discrimination such as name calling, gender stereotyping etc.
• Exploration of the roots of positive mental health using the ‘Five ways to wellbeing’ models.
• How we can help support our peers, encouraging positive action to listen and check-in.
Materials and concepts used are age specific and can integrate with school curriculum. We will provide all schools with additional information/signposting materials, pupil generated classroom displays and a large pledge tree for pupils to record how they are going to support their peers and themselves.
Other groups
We can tailor sessions, activity and presentations for a wide range of groups including youth clubs, Cubs, Girl Guides and more.
Local Schools who are interested in participating in the project are encouraged to contact Lynsey Eland on 01228 548016