Wowsers, what a busy week.
As we have done in previous years, Archie and I have been proudly supporting Place2Be this children’s mental health week. The theme this year is ” express yourself”. Archie expressed his loves and all the things that help his mental health by dressing me in those things!
Place2Be do so much for kids who need support and we are so proud to shout about them! I’ve grabbed this from there website…
Every day, children and young people across the UK struggle with their mental health.
We are committed to helping children and young people with their mental health, and the need for our services grows daily. 1 in 5 children and young people experience mental health difficulties. Half of all mental health problems are established by age 14.
Our approach to children’s and young people’s mental health is to intervene early to prevent life-long mental health issues. We do this by:providing support early, spotting mental health problems before they develop and helping children and young people cope with challenges throughout their lives
using an effective therapeutic approach backed by research that combines several ways of working
offering a range of mental health support services, including advice and support for families and school staff, to build resilience and raise awareness of mental health across the whole school community.
You can see why we are keen to help in any way we can!
So, to support their amazing work this week I have been… Pikachu ( Pokémon) , A Lego man, an XBOX controller ( that was awkward!) and Marshmallow ( Fortnite character) . As promised, I wore these things to my everyday appointments Even supporting in school ( thanks team WG!) , weigh day at slimming club and a lunch date with the hubby at a Garden centre 🤣
Trying to read and respond to over 50 emails this morning, tricky 😉
I agreed to do this because it makes me understand a little of what Archie feels like on a day to day basis. Arch, like lots of children with Autism, often feels self conscious, embarrassed, like everyone’s looking etc. It also meant we were encouraged to speak to lots of people about the importance of caring for yours and your children’s mental health!
I don’t mind admitting that it has been a really fun but tiring week (trying to stay up beat, trying to look like I wasn’t embarrassed etc) but I only have to do this for 1 week of the year. Our Awesome Archie does this EVERY DAY!!! What a brave and awesome kid he is 🙂
Please take a look at the Place2Be website for all your children’s mental health support and donate by scanning this link if you can 🙏
And finally THANKYOU to the team at BBC Radio Solent for having us on again. It was a total pleasure to chat on two different regions about the incredible ” make a Difference” awards that Archie and I were were honoured to be finalists last year.
.We also spoke a little about why we do what we do and how we plan to expand moving forward. Link to the interview below 🙂