Mental Health Awareness Week
Here at Q3 Academy Great Barr we believe that the emotional wellbeing of our students is as important as their physical health and want to support our students to become well-rounded adults with good health and resilience. To do this we recognise that the stigma around mental health needs to be broken down, changing attitudes to mental health could change somebody’s life.
1 in 10 young people are affected by mental health problems, this can include anxiety, depression, self-harm and low mood. Around 70% of these young people have not had support or interventions early on so continue to struggle.
This year’s #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek theme is ‘body image’, our assemblies were focused around this subject. We recognise that with social media being a huge part of young people lives having a positive body image can be difficult. A number of our Learning Consultants took the opportunity to talk about mental health in Wellbeing Inspire lessons with the emphasis of how important our feelings are.
A lot of young people feel unsure where to turn when things feel difficult so we invited our local colleagues from various charities and agencies. We had representatives from Kooth, Childline, BEAM and Brook, they were present during lunchtimes for our students to find out more information of what they can offer.
they were present during lunchtimes for our students to find out more information of what they can offer.
We recognise that talking about mental health may have been difficult for some of our students but may have also broken some barriers down to invite students to talk about feelings and reach out for support if they need it. We were lucky enough to have the support from a qualified counsellor who offered drop in sessions to students who wanted to talk.
We are very committed to support the emotional wellbeing of our students and are keen to seek the specific support when needed including support for loss and bereavement and self-harm. We offer our students time to talk to key staff in the Academy, the TranQuillity Zone is available for students who need some quiet space and emotional support. We have provided students with avenues to access emotional support including our Be Brave initiative.
We welcome contact with parents and carers of our students who may have any emotional wellbeing concerns, these can be emailed HERE
“A child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support. No one would feel embarrassed about seeking help for a child if they broke their arm.” – Kate Middleton.
Anna Kudryl – Family Welfare Champion
