Bullying in our schools and online is not acceptable. That’s why we’re proud to be supporting the Don’t Face It Alone campaign by @DianaAward
Author Archives: Michael
Mid and East Antrim Council launch ‘Little Free Toybox’ at People’s Park, first for the Borough
The concept of a ‘Little Free Toybox’ is simple – a passer by can lift a toy to play with or leave a toy for someone else.
Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor William McCaughey, said “I am delighted to see the first ‘Little Free Toy Box’ in the Borough installed at People’s Park and pupils from Ballymena Primary already enjoying it. This is will be a great addition to the park and the wider community.
I hope it will provide children and young people with more play resources and the opportunity to play, relax and reconnect with others after what has been a difficult year for everyone. The Toybox can also encourage sharing and creative, imaginative play, as well as potentially going some way to help reduce waste going to landfill as toys are essentially being recycled.
I’d like to extend my thanks to the Antrim Ballymena CYPSP who funded the project and Council Officers, CYPSP, and Northern Trust Health and Wellbeing Team, who co-ordinated the project, with support from a local artist and Ballymena Primary School.”
Lynsey McVitty, from the Northern Trust said “This toy box is a great example of the ‘Take 5’ steps to Wellbeing. Installed in a local park the toy box gives users a chance to connect with the natural environment and other park users. It encourages children to get involved in play, by picking up a new toy, all the while giving and supplying the local community access to toys and new play opportunities. We were delighted to work with Council on this creative initiative and to see it so well used already.”
Parents/guardians are responsible for supervising children when using the Little Free Toy Box and for appropriate sanitation before and afterwards.
Pure Mental School Committees
WHO KNOWS THE NEEDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE BETTER THAN THEMSELVES? NO ONE!
We supply schools with all the information, guidance, and resources they need to help pupils and staff successfully raise awareness of mental health and its importance in their schools. Pure Mental School Committees are pupil-led, organised groups of mental health champions within schools, with a focus and passion for improving mental health education and awareness within their own school. Who knows the needs, views, and best strategies to take for young people, than young people themselves? No one! Pure Mental Committees put young people at the forefront of the discussion on mental health; to build lines of communication between young people, their peers, and their school; and assist schools through any available training, support and resources available, at no cost to schools themselves. As a result, these committees, on a more personal level, equip pupils with leadership, organisational and communication skills, as well as experience in carrying out research, voluntary work and team-building which can be invaluable in their future education and life beyond school. Committees also give staff and pupils an opportunity to work together as each committee should be supported by a member of staff to help pupils organise and co-ordinate meetings, events, and projects. Acting as a liaison between Pure Mental and schools allows us to provide services, resources and recommendations, uncovering data, ideas and insight so more accurate conclusions can be made in our wider research. This will help us secure more funding and resources for schools to enhance their education on mental health and help facilitate new services, training and/or workshops.
Find our more at: https://www.puremental.org/committees
Contact: purementalni@gmail.com
Pure Mental In-school Toolkits
PURE MENTAL ARE LAUNCHING OUR ‘IN SCHOOL’ MENTAL HEALTH TOOLKITS FOR KS1
Designed to introduce key concepts of well-being and a healthy mindset, our KS1 toolkits explore topics such as friendships, talking, bullying, stress, anxiety, sadness and grief in an age-appropriate manner. Resources within the toolkits are tailored to talk directly to each key stage group using activities, colouring exercises, assemblies, posters and more. KS1 pupils will also be our area of focus for the first set of kits before moving on to KS2 and secondary schools. Every resource that we have designed for the ToolKits have been selected and devised with the aim of improving young people’s understanding of mental-wellbeing, emotions, how to verbalise their thoughts as well as how to look to out for other people’s well-being as well as their own. Our first KS1 ToolKit, which focuses on intervention, has been successfully designed and distributed to trial in several schools around Northern Ireland. We plan on gathering research and feedback from our schools, to form an evaluation report on the ToolKit. The next step will be formally launching our KS1 ToolKits into as many Primary Schools across Northern Ireland as possible. We will be providing both secondary and primary schools with kits as part of our overarching mental health education programme that spans the entire educational journey of young people.
Find our more at: https://www.puremental.org/toolkits
Contact: purementalni@gmail.com
The Young People’s Well-being Council
NORTHERN IRELAND’S BIGGEST INITIATIVE GETTING YOUNG PEOPLE INVOLVED IN MENTAL HEALTH POLICY.
The Young People’s Well-being Council is Pure Mental’s biggest initiative yet to get young people involved in developing mental health policy with particular focus on mental health in education, issues facing disadvantaged and vulnerable young people, and on tackling the stigma surrounding opening up and talking about how we feel. The Council consists of forty young people aged between 14 and 22 years old. We aim to involve young people from a range of backgrounds such as those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, from ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, in foster care, or have faced significant hardship or vulnerability in their life and give them the platform to participate in the conversation on mental health. These forty young people are split into 4 committees – Pax, Ulysses, Rhodes and Echo, where they will meet every eight weeks with Pure Mental NI Directors and the YPWBC Team, to help steer the focus of what Pure Mental hopes to achieve, to aid in our research efforts and to give valuable insight and information on mental health services, support and more from their own unique perspectives and experiences through being members of the council. This all adds to Pure Mental’s current research and lobbying efforts, allowing us to tailor our work to ensure it helps and represents those who will benefit most from reform and improvement to current mental health services and education.
Find our more at: https://www.puremental.org/wellbeing-council
Contact: wellbeingcouncilni@gmail.com