Although Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) has passed, it is still vital that we openly discuss mental health, and what we can do to raise awareness. We want to share with you what we did for MHAW, in the hopes of inspiring ongoing conversations around mental wellbeing.
To begin, on Tuesday 14th May, Stamp It Out (SIO) held an event which took place at Jubilee Fields Community Centre in Shildon. At the event, we had a number of organisations come along to provide information to members of the public, including the likes of Wellbeing For Life, Home Group and Healthwatch County Durham. The event also saw attendees take part in a range of activities including badminton and a chance to ride the fabulous smoothie-making bike, from our friends at Shildon Alive.
On Thursday 16th May, ‘Wear It Green Day’ took place, in which people were encouraged to wear green to inspire conversations around mental wellbeing. Here you can see our team taking part!
‘Alf the Kid’ helped us spread the word throughout the week, visiting various locations in his ‘Anti-Stigma Kid’ costume and providing SIO resources to those he met on his way.
Catchgate Primary School got teachers and students involved in their activities. They said, "We had 240 children out and lots of staff, hula hooping, pom pomming, chalk drawing, playing football, doing gymnastics etc all with very loud music on! Good job the neighbours are ok! Whole school dance off was hilarious and a fab end to a great week."
King James I Academy arranged a number of activities throughout the week. The students organised two events: a penalty shoot-out and board games. When playing Jenga, students were asked to draw a block which had a coloured dot on it. The dot corresponded to a question about mental health that they had to answer. For the penalty shoot-out students were asked to write a negative comment on the ball and then throw or kick it away. Teachers also got involved on Wear It Green Day, wearing green to promote conversations around mental health.
Karen Ray, Partnership Manager at SIO, attended Durham County Council's event. Karen attended the walk and talk event as a guest speaker, and shared information about Stamp It Out and our mission. Karen also shared her experience around work related stress, whilst providing Now Your Talking Badges and SIO resources to attendees!
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who got involved throughout the week, helping us in our mission to break down mental health stigma. Keep those conversations going!
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