Primary School Assemblies and Workshops in Devon: Building Mental Health Resilience and Self-Esteem

This month, the Youth Mental Health Foundation team have been delivering assemblies and workshops to primary schools in Devon.

Thanks to our funders, West Devon Borough Council, Teignbridge District Council, and North Yard Community Trust, we have been visiting local schools to build mental health resilience and self-esteem.

Our school assemblies and workshops have been designed, developed and delivered by Jade Sutton, aged 19, who has lived experience of struggling with, and recovering from, significant mental health challenges. 

Earlier this month, Jade was interviewed on BBC Radio about winning the BBC 'Make A Difference Awards' for her work. You can listen to the interview by CLICKING HERE.

To date, Jade has spoken to over 35,000 young people with her powerful messages to:

• Improve mental health resilience and self-esteem in young people
• Destigmatise mental health, making it easier for young people to ask for help
• Educate young people to accept, respect and celebrate their differences and dreams
• Increase awareness, acceptance and understanding of neurodiversity (ADHD, autism, dyslexia, etc.) 

This month, Jade delivered assemblies to South Tawton Primary School (West Devon) and  Drake Primary School (Plymouth). South Tawton Primary School said: 

"Jade was really good and really informative. She spoke in lots of detail about mental health in general and shared her own experiences which made it more realistic and relatable for both the children and also staff. She asked lots of questioned and got multiple answers for most of the questions which kept the children engaged.”

Workshop leaders Joel and Natalie have also been busy delivering workshops to schools in Torbay and Teignbridge. Earlier this month, they visited Sacred Heart Primary School in Paignton to deliver our ‘What’s Your Genius’ workshop to a Year 5 class. 

Sacred Heart Primary School “strongly agreed” that:

• The workshop improved their students' self-esteem; the workshop has helped their pupils better understand and respect each other's differences
• Their pupils better understand how to collaborate and work as a team
• Their pupils understood that they each have a unique Genius
• The workshop has inspired my pupils to make a difference and make this world a better place

Thanks to funding from Cllr Richard Buscombe at Teignbridge Council, Joel and Natalie also delivered a workshop for Year 5's and 6's at St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School. St Joseph’s School said that:

"This workshop helped the children's mental health, especially in the lead up to SAT's, by helping children to understand that they all have their own unique genius. The children have a better understanding of what they are good at and how this can be used in the wider world. The children related to celebrities mentioned and how even though they're rich they show kindness to others. This inspired children to show their own act of kindness."

We have really enjoyed supporting young people’s mental health and wellbeing in Devon schools over the last month, and are looking forward to our upcoming assemblies and workshops in March.

To find out more about Jade and her assemblies, CLICK HERE to watch a short documentary on YouTube.

The Youth Mental Health Foundation C.I.C. is a Devon-based not-for-profit organisation working with young people, families, and the wider community to address the crisis in youth mental health. We have provided support to thousands of parents via our free, online course ‘The Horizon Plan’, which teaches our clinical process to support young people struggling with mental health. Find out more by CLICKING HERE.