For Children's Mental Health week in February we shared stories from young people like Jessica, who used Kooth to explore her feelings and build resilience. For hundreds of thousands, having a safe space to talk has made all the difference.
Welcome to your quarterly newsletter: Bigger Bytes.
Jessica's story
Have a listen
The importance of male role models
In this episode, we speak about the impact of positive role models on young men and boys. From personal reflections to the wider influence on mental well-being, this is a discussion that truly matters. Tune in to hear their thoughts, experiences, and why having the right influences matters. Share this with your students.
Kooth Future Council
A big thank you to all of you who encouraged your students to take part in our creative competition to find Kooth’s first-ever youth-powered content team! It was a hard competition to judge, as so many young people across the UK had submitted beautiful and inspiring entries to answer our question “How do you overcome negative emotions?”
.Our 10 winners joined us last month at a series of masterclasses headlined by TikTok stars - content creator Luke Vernon, artist Eva Malley and poet & musician Dan Whitlam - where they collaborated (and had fun!) filming vox pops, creating artwork and writing poetry for Kooth to share with other young people to support their mental health. Our young Council members grew their confidence and learnt new skills, helping them stand out in their future college, UCAS or job applications.
Here’s a flavour of one of the masterclasses:
And this is what a couple of our winners said about being part of the Council:
“I’m proud to be a part of the council because it validates my thought process and creative process. And because I’m in a STEM based school, you don’t really have manyopportunities to be creative so being a part of this workshop and seeing other people who are as creative as am I, in different ways whether that be writing, drawing or other forms of options, it's great!”
- Rezi from London
"Understanding more about things...
... that I don’t think I would have ever considered and learning more about a future career I might want to pursue, considering mental health and creativity are two really big parts of my life. I think in the future, moving forward with new knowledge I get from the council will really help me.”
- Martha from Manchester
Take some time to read:
Why self-awareness is key to students’ mental health Did you know that 1 in 6 young people now experience a mental health problem? Helping students develop self-awareness gives them the tools to recognise their feelings, set boundaries, and navigate life’s ups and downs. It won’t stop challenges from happening, but it can help create calm in the storm.
Find out why self-awareness is so important for their mental health:
Kooth can help people experiencing eating difficulties
1.25 million people in the UK are living with an eating disorder. It’s important to recognise that eating disorders can affect anyone. Use these posters to help direct people to our digital platform's safe, anonymous mental health support for those struggling with food, body image, and self-esteem issues.
Have you heard about...
The Association of Mental Health and Education. An organisation that is here to support you and your work. We are working to support every educational setting in the UK and aim to grow our community to include over half of all schools and colleges in the UK by the year 2027. AMHIE supports you by sharing news, advice and help, training, CPD and events, resources, services, and more. You can join for free, or if you want more done-for-you services, consider one of our paid memberships.
Benefits of becoming part of the AMHIE Community:
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Know you are doing things right
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Stay up to date with expectations
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Feel supported
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Have somewhere to turn to for advice
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Remove some of the stress and burden
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Reduce your role isolation
To find out more about AMHIE, access their free blog, free resources or find out what they can do to support you, click here.
