Raising awareness of mental health for young people in North Devon
We were recently honoured to be involved with the Argyle Community Trust NCS (National Citizen Service) programme, helping to raise awareness and knowledge of mental health and wellbeing across Devon.
Throughout July, we delivered nine workshops to over 200 school leavers in Bideford, North Devon.
During each 45-minute interactive session, we covered various different topics including what mental health is, signs to spot in others and ourselves, how to look after our mental health, and importantly where to seek support. The sessions also included guidance on how to overcome nervousness around job interviews and delivering presentations, which are common triggering circumstances for stress and anxiety.
“It was really positive to see so many young people get involved in discussions about good mental health and how they can best support those around them.
The young people let us in on the stressful pressures they face in today’s society, from the demands of choosing a career and applying to university, to fitting in with current trends.
This further highlighted the importance of the work we do at Devon Mind, campaigning and raising awareness of mental health, to better support the young minds of the future!”
During the workshops we asked the young people to note down their understanding of positive and negative mental health, and what it meant to them personally. It was great to see such varied responses and sound understandings of what positive mental health is and how it can affect how we think, feel, and behave. We found this insight to be really valuable and have collated the responses to inform our future approaches. We wanted to share this powerful snapshot with you – please see below.
A snapshot into what positive mental health means to young people.
Both Devon Mind facilitators were delighted to be involved in such an engaging programme supporting young people’s social development, allowing them to thrive in the local community. As an organisation, we are looking forward to supporting more young people in the future.