Today, Saturday 10^th October is World Mental Health Day (WMHD), and this year, it comes at a time when our daily lives have changed considerably as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The past months have brought many challenges: for health-care workers providing care in difficult circumstances, going to work fearful of bringing  home the virus with them; for students, adapting to homeschooling or taking classes online, with minimal contact with teachers and friends, feeling anxious about their futures; for parents who have had to adapt to juggling homeschooling and working remotely; for workers whose livelihoods are threatened; for the vast number of people caught in poverty or in fragile humanitarian settings with extremely limited protection from COVID-19; and for people with mental health conditions, many experiencing even greater social isolation than before. And this is to say nothing of managing the grief of losing a loved one, sometimes without being able to say goodbye.

The economic consequences of the pandemic are already being felt, as companies let employees go in an effort to save their businesses or have been forced to shut down completely.

Given past experience of emergencies, it is expected that the need for mental health and psychosocial support will substantially increase in the coming months and years. Investment in mental health programmes at the local and international levels is now more important than it has ever been.

This is why the goal of this year’s World Mental Health Day campaign is increased investment in mental health. 

(https://www.who.int)

The Alex Panton Foundation (APF) would like to extend tremendous gratitude to our many sponsors, donners and supporters whom have helped fund our important programmes and initiatives such as our Emotional Literacy Programme, our Youth Ambassador Programme and our weekly Living with Anxiety & Depression Support Group. As a non-profit organisation, APF is dependent on the donations and support we receive from the community.

For WMHD, we have collaborated with the HSA to put. together artwork on the theme of kindness, created by our Youth Ambassadors (YAP, that will be displayed in the atrium of the hospital. There will also be a panel discussion, featuring our YAP that will be live on the Government’s official YouTube and Facebook pages as well as radio coverage. This will be on 17th October. Stay tuned!

Below are a list of resources designed to help support students who may need more help with their mental health, and celebrate the unique and different qualities each child brings to your school community.

The toolkit is split into two sections:

• ‘The same but different’ resource set

This resource is all about celebrating diversity and difference. There’s an assembly plan, tips from teachers, and three lesson plans for different age groups (children aged 4 to 5, 5 to 8 and 9 to 11).

• Further resources to support diverse groups of children

This is a collection of resources to be delivered to, or inform your work with, groups of children who may need more support with their mental health.

There are resources included for:

• LGBTQ+ children
• Children from ethnic minority groups
• Refugee and asylum seeker children
• Looked-after children
• Young carers

Click the button below to download the WMHD toolkit, provided by https://www.mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/