Members of the Student Working Wellbeing Party worked with the charity ‘Investing in Children’ and other young people from around County Durham to organise a free-to-enter World Mental Health day event. The aim was to create an event that was both fun and informative for young people and their parents/carers organised.

The theme was promoting positive coping mechanisms and trying to encourage taking control of your negative feelings and emotions. It had been decided to be located at the Sjovoll Centre (the home of ‘Investing in Children’) on the Saturday following World Mental Health Day. Throughout the organisation of the event, we worked closely with the NHS Emotional Resilience Nurses and Family Hub to contribute their ideas and offer advice. 

Many different activities were decided on and set up throughout the different rooms. We had sessions covering making slime, bottle rockets and bath bombs and the Emotional Resilience Nurses held sessions in making glitter jars and other crafts. We had a sensory room set up filled with sensory toys and even a therapy dog. We also had a room for mindfulness colouring and bag decorating. There was a scavenger hunt across all of the rooms encouraging further exploration of all of the activities we had to offer and if it was completed they were entered into a raffle to win a gift card of their choosing.

In the main hall, there were stalls from services and charities including: CAMHS, “if u care share”, Family Hub, Emotional Resilience Nurses and many more. These stalls had information for parents/carers as well as activities and sweet treats for the young people. We also had a ‘stuff it bucket’ where young people could write their worries, anxieties and frustrations to try and encourage them to share how they feel and not keep their emotions bottled up. Moreover, we had a collaborative wall where people could share their own coping mechanisms to inspire group discussions.

Overall, the event was a success with over 100 young people and families attending and, with many review forms returned, we could assess our achievements and also discuss where we can improve the event for next year.