Children's Mental Health Week 2023

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Children's Mental Health Week 2023

Posted by Fran Russo on 3 February 2023

(Picture above says 'Let's Connect', Children's Mental Health Week logo image)

From 6- 12 February, schools, youth groups, organisations, families and young people across the UK can take part in Children’s Mental Health Week (CMHW).

CMHW raises awareness of the importance of children's mental health. It encourages us to talk about how we are feeling, and support. each other.

This year’s theme is Let's Connect

People with positive connections to family, friends and others often experience better mental health than those who are less well connected.

What does connection mean to young people?

Watch the below video 'How do we connect'.

For Children’s Mental Health Week 2023, we're encouraging young people to connect with others in healthy, rewarding and meaningful ways.

Anyone can feel disconnected and lonely, but what can help us connect with others, see our tips below:

1. Knowing what a safe and healthy relationship looks like!

What does a healthy (good) friendship/relationship look like?

Trust. Trust is an important part of a relationship as you know you can rely on that person and feel safe with them.
Respect. Respect means you treat each other kindly and build each other up.
Honesty - Allows you to feel comfortable sharing your feelings, hopes and fears with each other.
Affection. It shows that you care about each.
Good communication. This helps to solve any arguments or differences that occur in a relationship.

What does a bad friendship/relationship look like?

Lying, cheating, jealousy, disrespect and abuse are all signs of an unhealthy relationship with someone. This includes:

Being possessive - keeping track of where they are and who they hang out with
Feeling isolated - they are keeping you away from friends or family
Physical or verbal abuse.

To sum up - a healthy relationship will make you feel good about yourself and an unhealthy relationship won’t.

For more info see our being in a healthy relationship and relationships with friends advice pages.

2. Connecting safely online

We often make connections with others online; on social media, or when playing video games.
Sometimes people will try to trick you into clicking dangerous links or sharing things about yourself (grooming) Or something you’ve shared might be used to bully or frighten you.

ChildLine has some good advice about staying safe online

For more info see our life online advice pages

3. Volunteering

Volunteering shows you the positive impact that your helpful actions are having on other peoples lives and the community and this will help you feel more connected to the people around you.

Volunteering also helps you to make new friends and contacts.

If you are interested in volunteering, go to our volunteering advice page

4. Reconnecting with old friends

As we get older and experience new things we can grow apart from friends for many reasons, like; we no longer share the same interests or they have moved away.

Reconnecting with a friend you have not spoken to in a while or have lost touch with, can help you recall good memories of hanging out together and this can help boost our emotional wellbeing, especially at times when we Feel like no one really “gets you”, and we're feeling lonely or isolated.

5. Music

Music is a powerful tool that can help us connect with people when we're dancing and singing together.

Did you know music:

Strengthens our social connections by helping us understand what others are thinking and feeling.
Music allows us to express ourselves.
The rhythm of music helps synchronise our brains with people. This is so we can coordinate our body movements. As a result, music helps us communicate with others without even talking.