AFNCCF shortlisted by Charity of the Year
The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families has made the 2018 shortlist for the Charity Awards for our Talking Mental Health campaign. The Centre appears alongside Redthread, The Teddington Trust and The Theodora Trust in the Children and Youth category.
We know that schools are on the frontline when it comes to children’s mental health. School leaders and teaching staff work hard each day to support the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils. In September 2017 we launched a new campaign to support them.
You're Never too Young to Talk Mental Health included an animation, tips for talking for parents/carers and teacher toolkit co-developed by children, parents/carers, teachers and clinicians to improve emotional literacy and facilitate everyday conversations about mental health at schools and beyond. The animation and accompanying materials were disseminated via the Centre’s first national campaign and was introduced by HRH the Duchess of Cambridge.
An estimated 500,000 children in England have engaged with the animation and/or resources. Evaluation found that after a one-hour Talking Mental Health PSHE lesson, Year 5 children demonstrated improved awareness in help-seeking for their own and their friend’s mental health issues, and improved confidence on where to get advice. The campaign was followed up by a number of regional workshops for teachers across the country which included expert and evidence-based advice for education workers.
We would like to send our sincere thanks to The Charity Awards for recognising this initiative and to the thousands of teachers, children, parents and carers who have used our resources.