Mental Wealth
Mental Wealth Intent Statement
At St Mary & St Andrew's, we nurture a family spirit where every individual is valued, supported and encouraged to grow. We believe in promoting "Mental Wealth"—a positive approach to mental health that empowers our children, staff and families to flourish in all aspects of life. Through resilience, compassion and understanding, we create an environment where challenges are shared, strengths are celebrated and everyone feels heard and accepted. Our goal is to guide each child to be the best they can be, helping them unlock their full potential both academically, spiritually, socially and emotionally. Together we build lifelong well-being, where mental health is not just addressed but embraced as an essential part of our holistic development. Mental wellbeing is at the heart of our school, shaping confident, happy learners and compassionate, supportive individuals.
Wear yellow for mental health!
We spent time thinking about to keep mentally healthy today on National Mental Health Day October 24. Please ask your children about what they learned - they know such a lot already!
We are proud to be a part of the myHappymind Family! myHappymind is a mental health and well-being programme to support children in learning habits to support their own mental health. It does also cover all the mandatory objectives from the DfE Relationship Education Curriculum and also around 70% of the PSHE objectives. We do this in addition to our PSHE programme of study as we believe mental wellness leads to mental wealth, if our children feel safe to learn they will achieve!
As a whole school program grounded in science and dedicated to building positive mental wellbeing, myHappymind helps children understand how their brains work and creates a culture that helps to build children's resilience, confidence, and self-esteem. myHappymind also teaches the children how to self-regulate and manage their emotions in stressful times, allowing them to be their very best selves!
Learn more here: https://myhappymind.org/
There is an app specifically for parents to support your child's mental health at home. It is password protected so if this is something you would like access to, please contact Mrs Roach at school.
myHappymind Module Descriptions
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Meet Your Brain: Understanding how your brain works and how to ensure we look after it so that we can manage our emotions and be at our best. Growth mindset is a key part of this too.
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Celebrate: Understanding your unique character strengths and learning to celebrate them. This is a fantastic module for building self- esteem.
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Appreciate: Understanding why gratitude matters and how you can develop gratitude as a habit. Gratitude is key to well-being and resilience and we're all about making it a habit!
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Relate: Understanding why positive relationships matter and how to build them. We're focussed on the building blocks of good relationships and friendships.
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Engage: Understanding how to set meaningful goals that matter and how to keep resilient in times of challenge. This module is all about building self-esteem and resilience too.
How can we help you?
Help in Preston- Preston City Council and partners have developed the Help in Preston website offering a directory of services and support. There is a specific page for mental health support. This aligns with the Preston Health and Wellbeing Board which has a priority around Mental Health Mental Health Support - https://www.helpinpreston.com/article/4719/Mental-Health-Support
The Expert Parent's Guide to Childhood Anxiety - great advice can be found here!
Top tips for good mental health and wellbeing
Youth Mental Health Ambassador, Dr Alex George has shared his ‘top five tips’ for young people’s good mental health and wellbeing. This is live on the Department for Education’s YouTube channel.
As an A&E doctor, Dr Alex will use his clinical expertise to champion and shape government work to improve support for young people in schools, colleges and universities, as well as his personal experience having lost his brother to suicide last year. He will also sit on the new Mental Health in Education Action Group.
The NHS have produced some excellent supporting materials which can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/five-steps-to-mental-wellbeing/
Five minutes is all you need to read about the five-steps-to-well-being!
In addition to the links above, we would like to share with you a series of videos and activities that all member of our school community may find helpful in securing good mental health.
Episode 1 - Anxiety
Episode 2 - Communicating about Mental Health
Episode 3 - Social Media & Self Image
Episode 4 - Stress & Coping Strategies
Episode 5 - Depression
Episode 6 - Eating Disorders & Body Image
Episode 7 - Beliefs, Self-Esteem & Confidence
Episode 8 - Resilience, Peer-Pressure & Bullying
Episode 9 - Mindfulness & Visualisation
Kooth Northwest - Mental Health and Wellbeing Resources
Kooth provide free, safe and anonymous support to all young people on Kooth.com across the North. All resources and engagement offers are free for schools, services and young people to access. It is commissioned by the CCG and is staffed by clinical psychologists and accredited counsellors.
3a. Kooth's_Providing_an_Online_Service_brochure_Final_280322
3b. Kooth Lancashire April Newsletter
At the bottom of this page are the latest (September 24) advice and links for supporting your child through difficult times. We really encourage families to access these resources - children don't come with a handbook!
Transition to High school.
It is really common that children worry about transitioning to their new high school - it is venturing into the unknown.
To help reduce any anxieties, we work with local high schools, facilitate transition meetings here and at the new school, plus offer lots of support for children who need that extra time to prepare.
You may feel this booklet here is helpful for you and your child: Supporting a happy and mentally healthy transition to high school
Lancashire Positive Minds Parent/Carer Support Group
Anxiety / Obsessions and Compulsions / Depression /Self Harm/Eating Disorders / Psychosis / Suicidal Thoughts / Autism/Low Mood / Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder/Borderline Personality Disorders / Self Esteem and confidence issues and more.
Supporting a child, whatever age, with Neurodiverse and Mental Health difficulties and needs can be really challenging, isolating, emotionally, physically and mentally exhausting. You are not alone!
Come along to the group, meet with other likeminded Parents/Carers in similar situations and get both peer and professional support in a confidential, safe environment. The Group is very much parent led but professionally supported who can provide support, advice, guidance, practical tips and strategies, topic discussions and guest speakers all whilst you can have some time for you and have a cup of tea/coffee.
Preston Group Meet - Second Thursday of the month from 6.30-8pm
Contact the below number for further details.
Email: Lancashirepositiveminds@gmail.com/Telephone– 07824 042908/Instagram:Lancashire_Positive_Minds
Twitter:Lancashirepositiveminds@lancashireminds/ www.Lancashirepositiveminds.co.uk