Mental health talks to junior school pupils

Staff are already working with some of the county’s school teachers and staff to help reduce the number of young people going on to develop mental health conditions and reduce the number who need clinical support, through a range of funded and charged for services.

One of charity’s key missions is to build resilience from an early age, one way they are doing this is by extending the free Happier Lancashire talks to primary schools.

Rachael Ray, Children and Young People’s Community Development Lead at Lancashire Mind, said: “There is currently great concern about mental health conditions amongst young people. At the moment statistics tell us that half of mental health conditions begin before the age of 14 but we expect the age to be lower when new statistics are released later this year. We’ve been delivering our free Happier Lancashire talks in high schools and community groups for over two years and have spoken to 1,750 people this year alone. As a charity we want, and need, to do more, which is why we are expanding this offer and providing Happier Lancashire talks in an age-appropriate way to younger children.

“The talks Lancashire Mind offer equip children with the knowledge of how to protect their wellbeing from an early age. Talking to children about wellbeing can encourage conversations about mental health to become a natural part of their lives. In these talks, Lancashire Mind staff discuss the importance of mental health alongside physical health and we discuss the five ways to wellbeing, which are simple daily actions we can all take that can support children to have good wellbeing and build their resilience.”

The Happier Lancashire talk can be delivered in an assembly format or as interactive session for smaller groups. For details email [email protected]