A Week to Welcome Well-being: integrating Mental Health Awareness Week into your classroom

Mental Health Awareness Week, which takes place from 13-21 May, is designed to raise awareness around mental health and help people understand how they can support themselves and others who may be struggling with their mental health.

The aims of Mental Health Awareness Week are to:

• Raise awareness about mental health
• Encourage people to talk about mental health and seek help if needed
• Promote positive mental health and wellbeing
• Challenge stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health

It is important for you and your school to teach children about mental health and provide support for those who may be struggling. There are many different activities that you can do with your class to promote mental health and wellbeing during Mental Health Awareness Week. Here are a few ideas:

• Mindful breathing exercises: Teach children some simple breathing exercises that they can use to help them feel calmer and more focused. Encourage them to practice these exercises regularly, particularly if they are feeling stressed or anxious. For a year 1 class, you could build this into a lesson on the senses and show the children how breathing can affect how they feel. For older children, you could discuss the anatomical processes involved in breathing and explore what makes us breathe faster or slower. 
• Gratitude journals: Give children a small notebook and encourage them to write down one thing they are grateful for each day. This can help them focus on the positives in their life and cultivate a sense of gratitude. You could go a step further and ask them to link their gratitude to the science unit you are currently working on. For example, are they grateful for the flowers that grow in spring, or perhaps the way that forces allow them to play on a seesaw? 
• Acts of kindness: Encourage children to do something kind for someone else each day. This could be as simple as holding the door open for someone, or writing a thank-you note to a teacher or friend.
• Group discussions: Use class time to have open discussions about mental health and wellbeing. Encourage children to share their own experiences and feelings, and offer support and guidance to those who may be struggling.
• Staying healthy: Explore the importance of eating the right food and the positive impact that having a healthy balanced diet has on our mental health. Use our Year 2 Animals, including humans - Growth unit to explore these concepts.
• Physical activity: Encourage children to engage in physical activity, which has been shown to have a positive effect on mental health. This could be as simple as taking a walk around the school grounds, or participating in a group exercise class. For a year 6 class, this activity could be built into our Animals, Including Humans unit, which explores the beneficial effects of cardio exercise.

Overall, Mental Health Awareness Week is an important event that can help to promote positive mental health and wellbeing in schools. By teaching children about mental health and providing them with tools and support, we can help to build a more resilient and mentally healthy generation.