Children’s Mental Health Week
From the 3rd to 9th February, we celebrate Children and Young People Mental Health Week. This year we focus on self-awareness with the theme ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself’.
This year is all about helping young people and children explore their emotions, understand their strengths and challenges, and learn how this can guide them toward better mental health and stronger relationships.
Self-awareness is especially important during childhood and teenage years when emotions can be intense and challenging to handle. Understanding how you feel, why you feel that way and how your feelings influence your actions can help you make better decisions, build stronger friendships and handle life’s challenges more effectively.
Young People’s Programmes
Did you know that 75% of mental illnesses start before a person’s 18th birthday? We at Change Mental Health understand the importance of taking care of mental health at an early age.
Change Mental Health’s Young People Programmes – Your Resilience and Bloom – equip young people with the skills and understanding they need to manage their mental health during key life transitions. Together, these programmes focus on promoting self-awareness in areas such as:
- Recognising strengths and coping strategies: Young people learn to identify what helps them bounce back from challenges.
- Managing anxiety and stress: Reflecting on triggers and developing personal coping mechanisms.
- Navigating social pressures and relationships: Understanding how emotions and behaviours impact friendships and how to build healthier connections.
- Making confident decisions: Exploring values and personal interests to guide choices about education, work and future goals.
“Self-awareness is essential for building resilience. When young people understand the importance of resilience, they gain confidence and become better equipped to overcome life’s challenges.
“I’m passionate about our programmes because they empower young people to recognise their strengths and develop skills that will support them both now and in the future.”
Ciara Mallon, Engagement Officer for Young People’s Programmes
Here are four practical tools to help young people explore and enhance their self-awareness:
Emotion Wheel
Use an emotion wheel to identify and name your feelings more precisely. Understanding complex emotions like frustration or sadness helps young people respond to them effectively.
Johari Window
This tool encourages reflection on what you know about yourself and what others might see that you don’t. It’s divided into four quadrants:
- Open: What you and others know about you.
- Hidden: What you know but others don’t.
- Blind: What others see but you’re unaware of.
- Unknown: Things neither you nor others know yet.
Relationship Map
Create a map of the important people in your life and reflect on how these relationships affect your emotions. This exercise helps identify areas where communication or boundaries could improve.
If you’re a school or youth organisation, or know of one, that would like to engage with our Young People Programmes, email our team.
From there, we will explain how we can work together to support young people’s mental health.
There are so many ways in which you can fundraise for Change Mental Health! Maybe you had an upcoming ‘dress down day’ in your workplace. Or maybe you and your friends want to take part in a fundraising challenge. It’s entirely up to you!
The money you raise can contribute towards building a future where everyone can speak openly about their mental health and receive the support they need, no matter their age. Contact our Fundraising team to learn more, we would be thrilled to hear from you!
support
If you are an educator or work in student support, Bloom and Your Resilience provides school staff with the opportunity to develop their skills and confidence in having open conversations about mental health and support young people in transitioning to higher education. Learn more about the different Young People’s Programmes and contact us for more details.
Our Advice and Support Service is open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm (closed for lunch between 12.30pm and 1.30pm), where advisers can signpost you to local support that most fits your needs, including our Change Mental Health services. We offer initial advice on money worries and help to deal with emergencies.
Contact 0808 8010 515, email us at advice@changemh.org or fill out the enquiry form on the Advice and Support Service page.
