How to support Children’s Mental Health Week
Children’s Mental Health Week aims to give children and young people across the UK a voice when it comes to talking about how they feel in relation to their mental health. This year’s theme is My Voice Matters – and the focus is on making sure that no young person is facing mental health battles alone. There are plenty of ways to get involved with Children’s Mental Health Week and it’s easy to start a GoFundMe to contribute to the cause today.
The importance of Children’s Mental Health Week
Children and young people are facing more pressures on their mental health than ever before – from bullying, worries about exams, self esteem, peer pressure and navigating the world as the first generation to grow up with social media. According to the NHS Report on the Mental Health of Children and Young People in 2022, 18% of children aged 7-16 and 22% of young people aged 16-24 had a probable mental health condition, highlighting the need for a specific week to raise awareness.
What’s the theme of Children’s Mental Health Week?
Children’s Mental Health Week 2024 is themed on My Voice Matters, which is about empowering young people to have the confidence to say what they believe and have their voice heard around mental health. Having your voice heard can impact on self esteem in a massively positive way, which is part of why it is the focus for Children’s Mental Health Week 2024.
About Place2Be
Place2Be is a charity focussed on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, based in London. They were founded nearly 30 years ago and offer support like mental health training in schools so that children have more tools at their disposal to understand mental health.
How to take part in Children’s Mental Health Week 2024
There are plenty of easy ways that you can get involved in Children’s Mental Health Week 2024 – from raising money with a GoFundMe fundraiser to simply chatting about it with your family to open up conversations.
Raise awareness at school
Raising awareness at school about mental health helps to remove stigma from the topic, meaning children and young people may feel more at ease to speak freely about their own mental health struggles with other family members or their peers. There’s plenty of ideas on the Children’s Mental Health Week website – from assembly guides, class activities, posters and flyers to help kickstart the conversation.
Explore the topic with your family
Using the week as a way into conversations about mental health with your family is also a good idea. Researching Children’s Mental Health Week and opening up conversations about the way we feel means that children can identify problems they may be having faster and also feel more comfortable opening up about them at any time.
Start a fundraiser
You can also support Children’s Mental Health Week by starting a fundraiser – either for a charity like Barnardos that supports children or for a personal cause. There’s plenty of ideas here on how to raise money. Letting friends, family and colleagues know you’re doing this by posting on social media or sending a round-robin email can also help to open up difficult conversations around mental health.
Donate to children’s mental health charities
There are a plethora of great charities which support children’s mental health too – from YoungMinds to the NSPCC. A brilliant way to support these charities is to set up a donation on their website – either a one-off or recurring. You can also do this by donating on GoFundMe.
Five charities that support children’s mental health
So, if you’ve decided you want to support Children’s Mental Health Week by starting a fundraiser or donating to a mental health charity, here are some that help with children’s mental health.
YoungMinds
YoungMinds offers support for both young people and parents in families who may be struggling with mental health problems. They offer advice for adults on how to talk to children about mental health, guidance on different types of mental health conditions for young people and offer guidance on how to help a friend who is struggling. There’s also a helpline for urgent support.
The Children’s Society
The Children’s Society supports young people that have experienced abuse, exploitation and neglect. They work to build children’s self esteem and support them through some of life’s biggest challenges. Their vision is “a society built for all children”. They have campaigns currently running, including fighting for care leavers to have a more equal start and protecting children through the cost of living crisis.
Barnardo’s
Barnardo’s has been helping disadvantaged children since 1867. They’ve worked with their partners across the country to support hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged children battling through various issues to try and ensure they have the best start in life they can. You can learn how to donate to Barnardo’s here – there’s options to do so on the website, to charity shops or through the post along with on GoFundMe.
Save the Children
Save the Children was originally established after World War One to help struggling children. They believe that all children around the world have the right to mental health and wellbeing. One in five children living in conflict zones around the world have mental health disorders, but barely any budget is allocated to help them. Through programmes, Save the Children is trying to equip these kids with the knowledge they need to better deal with the trauma they go through. There are various ways to donate to Save the Children, which you can see here.
NSPCC
The NSPCC supports children in a number of ways, including those who may be experiencing mental health issues. They have advice and support for adults on recognising children who may be struggling with their mental health, including elements of it like self harm. They also run counselling sessions through Childline.
Start a fundraiser in support of Children’s Mental Week
If you’d like to start a fundraiser in support of Children’s Mental Health Week, it couldn’t be easier to start a GoFundMe today for a personal cause or for a charity. Start your GoFundMe and get sharing it with friends and family on social media, in your workplace, in a local school etc and get spreading the word about Children’s Mental Health Week 2024.