Schools in Liverpool are being encouraged to open up about mental health as part of a national campaign.
The Time To Talk campaign is a national effort and our local schools are helping led the change, by bringing everybody together to get talking and break the silence around mental health.
Deputy Mayor Councillor Ann O’Byrne and Assistant Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education Nick Small recently visited At Our Lady of Good Help in Wavertree, to see the ongoing work the school is doing to support the health and wellbeing of children, staff and families at the school.
Head teacher Sarah Peacock said ‘We want our children to thrive in our care: socially, academically and in body and mind! We want Our Lady of Good Help to be a place that promotes mindfulness and mental health and wellbeing for all.’
Hannah Mullen who leads on wellbeing at the School said ‘We are already doing so much to address good mental health and wellbeing through things such as, Bully Busters workshops & assemblies, Rainbow Smiles, yoga classes in school as well as mindfulness lessons, but we wanted to do more and that is why we took part in Time to Talk and continue to run this programme as part of our curriculum.
The aim is to instil in all our children that it is ok not to be ok. We want to have a school where the children feel safe to share their feelings and thoughts about anything that is going on in their lives.’
Time to Talk is organised by the mental health charity, Time to Change. They champion ending the stigma surrounding mental health as too many people with mental health problems are made to feel isolated, worthless and ashamed. Time to Talk Day is a chance for all of us to be more open about mental health – to talk, to listen, to change lives. It’s easy to think there’s no right place to talk about mental health. But we want to get across to the children that the more we talk about it, the better life is for all of us; that it is ok not to be ok.
Deputy Mayor Ann O’Byrne said ‘It was wonderful to see all the children participating in a variety of activities to promote their wellbeing and emotions, from yoga and arts & crafts, to poetry and singing & song writing.’
Cabinet Member for Education said ‘The creative arts are a fantastic tool for allowing people to explore their inner-most thoughts and feelings. Therefore, we wanted to utilise as many of them as possible to allow our children to express themselves.’
To get involved in the Time To Talk campaign more information can be found at www.time-to-change.org.uk/ where there are specially designed resources for schools.
