Phew supports Bedford based charity which gives children the power to thrive
When Matthew, our MD discovered local charity, Making Me, he instantly warmed to the concept and values they presented, which is to equip children and young people with the skills and understanding to proactively navigate their mental and emotional journey into adulthood.
Emotional and mental wellbeing in children is more important than ever, with many struggling due to the global pandemic. In the last 3 years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%* Making Me equips schools with the resources to enable all children to reach their potential and thrive.
We were delighted to create a website for Making Me back in November 2020 as our way of giving back and it’s been great to catch up recently with Lesley Tyler, Chief Operating Officer, to hear how well the website works to share their message and find out about new developments with their programme.
Firstly, we thought we’d give some of the reasons why we believe the work they do is so important.
- Making Me’s mission is to give children the power to thrive. They do this by working alongside schools, to equip children and young people with the skills and understanding to proactively navigate their mental and emotional journey through childhood and into adulthood. With lots of young families here at Phew, we all understand how important this mission is, especially during the pandemic. We also felt it aligned with our Phew vision of empowerment and support.
- Their goal is to provide a platform of learning whereby youngsters can build resilience, understand and communicate their emotions, embrace their mental wellbeing and make informed choices about the person they want to become. They do this through a whole school approach, starting with an introductory workshop for all school staff, as well as a literacy programme for children and workshops for parents to continue the learning at home.
- The team are so passionate about what they do and work extremely hard to make their vision a reality. It is truly inspiring to see.
When we caught up with Lesley, she spoke about how their Primary School Emotional Literacy Programme has evolved to be a complete package for children, staff and parents – with the concept that ‘knowledge is power’. She explained: “Our Emotional Literacy Programme includes assemblies and workshops for school staff, children and their parents/carers to ensure a consistency in approach and language. We have recently developed a pack of resources to easily implement and embed our strategies so children can learn how to care for their mental and emotional health and understand it is as important as looking after their physical health.”
“Our programme provides children with the knowledge to understand and communicate their different feelings and teaches them how to build and use resilience, which will be a lifelong benefit when they encounter challenges and bumps in the road.”
Lesley added: “We are so grateful to Phew for all the support we receive. In addition to signposting our charity and the work we do, the website has helped us in so many ways as a central source of secure information for schools and for our team. We were also able to upload a couple of videos for training at home during lockdown.”
Making Me are always happy to hear from schools who would like to run their programme, and details about this can be found on their website here: https://www.makingme.org.uk
*Source: The Children’s Society. Children’s mental health statistics. 2021