“The way I know mental health, is when people have big barriers in front of them and they can’t get through it”
In a survey of 338 Schools in 2016, 55% of schools had experience a large increase in cases of stress and anxiety amongst young people. In an evolving initiative to understand and support young people in MK’s mental health and wellbeing.
Milton Keynes Council Public Health and NHS MK Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) created an innovative project called You, Me, Together, supported by funding from Artswork, the South East Bridge, and delivered in partnership with the MK Cultural Education Partnership.
The creative learning charity, Artis, were commissioned to work with 150 young people and children in four MK schools (Caroline Haslett, Falconhurst, Oakgrove and St. Paul’s). The aim of this project was to gain a better understanding of how children and young people in MK perceived mental health, to get them to understand and identify mental health and wellbeing in others (you), in themselves (me), and to support each other (together).
The project was a great success and will contribute to the ongoing conversation about how we improve mental health and wellbeing for children and young people. Teachers saw a boost in pupil’s confidence, students opened up about how certain things made them feel, and a class installed a ‘worry box’ for pupils to write their worries down and put in the box, only for the teacher to read. A film about the project was created to raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing in young people, what it means to them and open up a conversation. What is mental health and wellbeing and what can we all do to improve things?
You can learn more about the project and it’s impacts by reading the Artis Summary Report on You, Me, Together project _Final