Coronavirus continues to dominate the headlines and much of our lives, but this week – Anti-Bullying Week – will remind us of the pernicious issue that continues to blight young lives, pandemic or not.

Anti-Bullying Week 2020 takes place from Monday, November 16^th to Friday, November 20 with the theme ‘United Against Bullying.’ The Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum (NIABF) coordinates Anti-Bullying Week in Northern Ireland and has published a manifesto for change to combat the issue.

As the NIABF observes:

“This year, more than ever, we’ve witnessed the positive power that society can have when we come together to tackle a common challenge. Anti-Bullying Week is no different. Bullying has a long lasting effect on those who experience and witness it. But by channelling our collective power, through shared efforts and shared ambitions, we can reduce bullying together. From parents and carers, to teachers and politicians, to children and young people, we all have a part to play in coming together to make a difference.”

As the NIAFB marks the important annual week with a variety of events, Action Mental Health is keen to focus on the part it plays to help children and young people deal with the myriad issues associated with bullying.

AMH MensSana is a service that caters for all ages, but also has a number of projects designed to help our younger generations negotiate their way through life – including the toughest parts, like bullying.

Healthy Me is one such programme. A vibrant and engaging mental health promotion programme, Healthy Me explores emotional and mental health, healthy lifestyle choices and pathways to effective support through imaginative and interactive play and song.

Healthy Me positively promotes mental health and social and emotional well-being in children and has a strong focus on prevention and self-help for Keystage 2 pupils aged from 8 to 11.

MensSana worker, Catherine Cunningham, explains how Healthy Me helps children deal with the complex arena of human emotions.

“We encourage the children to talk about relationships, feelings and behaviours they are familiar with, then we take a vote on what it is about ourselves that we can control, including our own behaviour and how we behave towards others.”

To illustrate this, Healthy Me practitioners employ a useful snippet from the blockbuster Disney movie, Frozen, in which loveable snowman Olaf sneezes and loses his carrot nose as a result. A hungry Sven, a reindeer, spies the vegetable and makes a move for it. But instead of eating it, as viewers suspects he will, Sven surprises everyone, especially Olaf.

Catherine explains:

“We discuss with the children how Sven controls his behaviour and thinks about Olaf’s thoughts and feelings and chooses a kind and helpful behaviour by giving the nose back.”

“Healthy Me encourages children to also talk about helpful and unhelpful feelings and actions and we ask them to put up their hand if they have ever done something mean to someone else. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are a bad person, but that sometimes, everyone feels that way.”

Catherine, a former primary school teacher spoke about ordinary feelings of frustration which can flare up in the playground when children don’t know what to do with their anger.

“A lot of Healthy Me is concentrated around what children can do that is positive instead of them taking things that upset them, out on themselves, or on others. It focuses on controlling their behaviour and how they can talk to someone to help them feel better and more positive about themselves.”

To find out more about Healthy Me and how your school or community group could benefit from this helpful programme contact the:

AMH MensSana team at:
T: 028 9442 5356 E: [email protected]
(all areas except Southern Trust Area)

T: 028 3839 2314 E: [email protected]
(Southern Trust Area)

Healthy Me sessions can also be delivered to parents and carers.

Action Mental Health wants everyone to make sure they have a mentally ‘Elfie’ Christmas while helping to raise much needed funds to support the charity’s vital services for people of all ages across Northern Ireland.

This festive season Action Mental Health is launching the ‘Elfie Day’ campaign and calling on people to get involved on 11^th December. The campaign is designed to encourage everyone to get into the seasonal spirit with AMH’s new yuletide sprite, Elfie.

Action Mental Health’s festive Elfie friend wants everyone to look the part for the day, by dressing up and also using AMH’s handy Yuletide collection of hat, beard and ears (available in our helpful fundraising pack). All you have to do is cut them out and post a selfie on our social media channels: it’s that easy! After such a tough year, it’s a great way to have some fun with friends, family and work colleagues and spread a little happiness– at a safe, social distance, of course!

Elfie is one of our Healthy Me characters, who spends the rest of the year helping our Project Workers who are supporting children aged from 8 to 11 to learn all about looking after their mental health and well-being in local primary schools.

You can join our little festive sprite by hosting an Elfie-themed fancy dress day and take some Elfie selfies; by setting up an online Christmas quiz or party night; or by organising a sponsored Elfie-themed walk or run. Or, why not hold an Elfie day at home, when you can decorate the house, bake an Elfie-based cake and sing along to festive tunes and then make a donation to support Action Mental Heath’s work.

You can register to host your Elfie day by clicking here.

Supporters are also being encouraged to take a daily dip into Elfie’s advent calendar for seasonal snippets of wisdom and inspirational messages and ideas for festive frolics aimed at promoting well-being at a time when some struggle more with their mental health. The advent calendar will be ‘opened’ everyday on AMH’s social media channels.

All funds raised will help support AMH’s local services. For example £65 could help to pay for a counselling session for a local person who is struggling to cope; £285 could help to pay for a 6 week arts-based therapy programme for a child; £500 could help to pay for specialist training to help people develop strategies for dealing with stress & anxiety; £1000 could help to pay for a resilience building programme to be delivered in a local primary school and £2000 could help to pay for a holistic family therapy Intervention programme for local families.

AMH has produced a comprehensive Fundraising Pack to provide a host of ideas on how to best to mark Elfie day, so visit amh.org.uk, email [email protected] or call the fundraising elves on 028 9182 8494.

A former lifeguard has returned to the pool to embark upon a fundraising challenge in aid of Action Mental Health, while turning the tide on an addiction.

Martin McLean, once a lifeguard in his local Armagh, retired from his last post as a government auditor and now at 57, he is preparing to swim 5000 metres – or 200 lengths in one session – to raise awareness of the issue of addiction and its impact on mental health and also to raise funds for local charity, Action Mental Health.

The avid swimmer will commence his challenge proper on Saturday, November 14 at 8am and is hopeful he’ll make good time and a great fundraising total.

It follows Martin’s struggle with occasional binge drinking, which had a detrimental impact on his personal life and relationships. But since committing himself to breaking the habit, Martin has dedicated himself to a healthier lifestyle and knocked his excessive drinking firmly on the head. Now Martin is focused more on the positive endorphin blast that comes with a workout in the pool.

Following each aquatic workout, Martin has been taking to Facebook to write about various aspects of mental ill health, some of which he has experienced personally, having been widowed in recent years and left with two boys to bring up alone.

Martin said a swimming challenge was the natural choice because he has osteoarthritis of the spine and needed to choose a low impact sport.

Hoping to raise £1000 for Action Mental Health, Martin elaborated more on the reasons for choosing the charity as the beneficiary.

“AMH gets help to where it needs it most. With one in five people in Northern Ireland experiencing mental health problems, sadly this subject is still largely taboo. Like most men, who won’t talk about their own mental health issues, I fell into the trap of internalising issues which left me feeling isolated, desperate, frustrated – the list is pretty long.

“Those of you who know me understand that I’m no Michael Phelps. I did this distance in the early 1990s in approximately one hour and 40 minutes, so I hope to do it this time in around two hours – but completing it will do just fine!” he said.

Action Mental Health’s Fundraising and Communications Manager Jonathan Smyth praised Martin’s efforts. “We are delighted that Martin chose Action Mental Health as the beneficiary for his amazing swimming challenge. Exercise is scientifically proven to improve people’s mental health and well-being and we are happy for Martin that he has gleaned such personal benefit from his challenge.”

If you would like to support Martin on his swimming challenge, you can donate by visiting: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/martin-mc-lean

ends

This week, as part of the #CovidWellbeingNI Partnership, and as it is also International Stress Awareness Week, Action Mental Health are focusing on tips to manage stress, relieve the pressure and regain control. 

International Stress Awareness Week this year takes on a unique significance as the world adjusts to the continuing pandemic.

And as Northern Ireland finds itself in a ‘circuit breaker’, it could be easy to feel overwhelmed by this second set of restrictions on our movements, and its inherent stresses and strains.

International Stress Awareness Week takes place on 2 -6 November 2020 and its theme this year is ‘Managing Stress and Mental Health Issues in the Age of Covid-19’.

This year’s focus shows that there is hope – that whatever challenges the pandemic brings – we can weather the storm of stress together. And as we negotiate that journey, Action Mental Health’s specialist service which promotes healthy, resilient workforces – AMH Works – has devised a guide to assist us along that path, however long it may last.

By promoting the four As – AVOID, ALTER, ADAPT AND ACCEPT –  AMH Works aims to help us all find relief from the pressures of life in 2020 which has been so dramatically affected by Covid-19.

AVOID

Though it’s not healthy to avoid a stressful situation that needs to be addressed, you may be surprised by the number of pressures and stressors in your life you can reduce and take control of. It’s ok to say no, to know your own limits, to ensure that you are not taking too much on, and to practice self care.  Avoid people who cause you stress and control your environment. Taking control of your environment can help alleviate pressure, we live on a notified and anxious planet, ration social media and the news. If taking a trip to the local grocery store might cause you worry, try shopping online to create less stress and promote a greater sense of peace and control.

ALTER

Sometimes you can’t avoid a stressful situation but you can alter it. Speak your mind: It’s ok to voice how you are feeling in a respectful manner, practice becoming more assertive to ensure your worries and concerns are heard. Try to tackle the problem early to avoid the situation from escalating. Finding the middle ground: Be willing to compromise and also change some things about yourself in order to find a happy outcome for all parties.

ADAPT

If you can’t change the stressful situation you can learn to adapt. You can challenge unhelpful thinking patterns and gain perspective. Reframe: viewing a stressful situation positively in the current situation might be tough, but it’s important to take time to pause and reflect. Try to challenge negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts. Creating a ‘good enough’ mindset that isn’t filled with unrealistic expectations will help you cultivate a sense of well-being.

ACCEPT

Some situations may be unavoidable and out of our control such as Covid-19. In such cases it is important to remember we have to cope with stress by acceptance. It can be very difficult to do but it can present you with more time to focus your energy on taking care of you! Keep talking: sharing your feelings and expressing your thoughts is more important than ever, talk to a colleague, a trusted friend, a councillor or your GP. Stress and mental health problems have never been more important than now, and the challenges they present never more acute than in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

These new challenges are of major concern for organisations as well as individuals, in the light of growing evidence of their effects in the age of the pandemic. 

International Stress Awareness Week 2020 will provide a platform for stress and mental health problems to be highlighted and for insights from around the world to be illuminated.

Almost one in five adults (19.2%) were likely to be experiencing some form of depression during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in June 2020; this had almost doubled from around 1 in 10 (9.7%) before the pandemic (July 2019 to March 2020). Feeling stressed or anxious was the most common way adults experiencing some form of depression felt their well-being was being affected, with 84.9% stating this.

Follow us all week on our social media channels for some great advice!

• Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook

Further advice and support can be found on the CovidWellbeing NI website which the AMH is contributing to in partnership with 15 other mental health charities, as well as the Public Health Agency and the Departments for Communities and Health.

Find out more about International Stress Awareness Week here. Join online for a Global Stress & Wellbeing Summit:  a week of broadcasts, webinars, panel discussions, keynote presentations, networking and much, much more.

Hard-working clients at Action Mental Health have been rewarded for their efforts to achieve nationally recognised qualifications.

Rachael Adamson and Rosemary Traynor, who attend Action Mental Health’s New Horizons Antrim’s outreach service in Larne, have been presented with their Open College Network Awards by AMH Skills Coach, Nicola McAleese.

Rachael received a ‘highly commended’ award in the subject of OCN Healthy Lifestyles, while Rosemary came third in the Learner Voluntary Award, in the Community category.

Last March, Action Mental Health was ‘highly commended’ in the ‘provider of the year’

Category, for its delivery of OCN NI awards, like those achieved by Rachael and Rosemary.

OCN NI is a UK regulated awarding organisation and educational charity that designs and awards vocational qualifications for adults and young people across all sector areas.

It awards professional and technical qualifications, tackling educational underachievement and addressing skills gaps in Northern Ireland.

Rachael and Rosemary take part in the ‘Working it Out’ project which is part-funded through the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020 and the Department for the Economy and the South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust.

Chief Executive of Action Mental Health, David Babington added: “AMH have been a longstanding provider of OCN qualifications, which have acted as a catalyst for participants to engage in other service programmes with the ultimate goal of improving their well-being and quality of life.

“We’re delighted with these inaugural awards and look forward to celebrating the achievements of our learners.  Supporting this event helps us contribute to realising our vision – a society which actively values and supports people on their journey to positive mental health,” he added. 

Read more about OCN NI at https://www.ocnni.org.uk/

This year, more than ever, Make a Difference Day might be just what the doctor ordered to help us negotiate our way through the continuing pandemic.

Make A Difference Day has a simple objective: to volunteer in some way, or to give back to the community around you – to help make a difference. This year’s Make a Difference Day lands on Saturday, October 24, and for just one day, why not think of a way to make a positive difference to your own mental health, while helping others who might be in need of a helping hand or even a listening ear.

The Five Ways to Wellbeing are a good place to start. By adopting its key principles – Connect, Take Notice, Keep Learning, Give and Keep Active – you’ll not only help support your own mental health, you’ll also reap the rewards that come with the altruism of helping others.

You can promote better mental health and wellbeing in yourself if you Take Notice and Keep Active. Just by getting outside and appreciating the beauty of the natural environment, you’ll be benefiting from the proven mental health benefits these principles bring, like reducing stress. Just choose your favourite way to enjoy nature and reap its rich rewards. 

To make a difference to others, why not Give – of yourself and your time. Why not consider fundraising for a favourite charity – like Action Mental Health – because there are still many ways to do so online, despite the pandemic. You could even help an elderly relative or neighbour do their shopping, or even visit them at their doorstep for a chat, while adhering to the current social distancing restrictions. Giving not only benefits those in receipt of your generosity, it also improves our sense of worth and a feeling of purpose.

You can also make a positive difference within yourself if you Keep Learning. Learning new skills not only opens up your life to limitless possibilities, it also stimulates a boost in self-confidence and provides you with a genuine sense of purpose.

Probably most important of all in these times of the continuing restrictions on our movements, now is the time to Connect. It may have to be via the telephone, or via online video chat, but you’ll still benefit from the mutual interaction with someone you love, or who you know has been particularly lonely throughout the pandemic.

So remember, to help Make A Difference the options are limitless:

Volunteer – to help someone in need in any way they need, within current restrictions;

Fundraise – contact our fundraising team for lots of ideas!

Pick up litter – as the world focuses on the pandemic many will also turn their attention to the outdoors to help them cope. If it’s very untidy, and strewn with litter, it will have a detrimental impact on everyone hoping to enjoy it. Even if you pick up one item, it will make a difference, especially if you encourage others (for example on social media) we can all enjoy a cleaner environment;

Read to someone –  to an older person with poor eyesight, even if it’s over the phone or online;

Reminisce with an older person and play their favourite music – even if online, asking older people to recount their past can rekindle wonderful memories, especially those with memory loss and dementia. Playing their favourite music from their younger years is particularly useful.

Let us know how you made a difference!

Leading arts venue and creative hub, the MAC has teamed up with local charitable and community organisations to promote creativity as a vital tool for mental wellbeing and developing new skills.

As part of its new ‘MACtivate’ programme, the MAC has distributed hundreds of art packs to their five associate partners, Action Mental Health, Alliance for Choice, Extern, Participation

and Practice of Rights and The Rainbow Project, capturing artwork from a range of backgrounds to be exhibited in a special exhibition in their Tall Gallery. This will coincide with exhibitions from professional artists Peter Liversidge and Frederic Huska in their Upper and Sunken galleries.

‘In a Rainbow of Coalitions’ will open later this month and will be home to hundreds of homemade creations from children, families and groups – budding artists and amateurs – from all walks of life. It is hoped the rainbow, which quickly became a symbol of hope during the pandemic, will help spread positivity and encourage others to get creative.

Gillian Carr, Service Manager at Action Mental Health explained why they got involved in the project and how it helped to support participants. She said:

“Using the arts is an effective and enjoyable way to relax, show your creative side and to learn new skills. That’s exactly why the MAC’s rainbow project was the perfect fit for many of our clients, providing them with another very positive way to support their recovery from mental ill-health.

“Taking part also encourages interaction with others and helps improve communication and social skills, which can be really useful when looking for future employment or volunteering opportunities. Many of our clients will be able to use these skills to help with prospective job searches and as valuable techniques for dealing with life’s challenges.”

Jen White, Creative Programmes Manager at the MAC added:

“We want everyone and anyone to be able to access and participate in the arts, so we were delighted to be able to provide these packs with the help of the team at Play Resource and artist Miguel Martin who we commissioned to create special activity sheets.

“Many people created their own rainbows as heartfelt messages of thanks to our amazing frontline workers and they have been so important in helping to keep spirits high during this really difficult time. We want to celebrate that outpouring of creativity by providing a home for these very special works of art, as they deserve pride of place in our finest galleries.”

‘In a Rainbow of Coalitions’ opens on Wednesday 28th October and runs until 24th January 2021. The closing date for outstanding submissions has now closed.

For more information on this special exhibition and how to get involved, visit themaclive.com/exhibition/in-a-rainbow-of-coalitions.

Amanda Jones, Action Mental Health’s Operations Manager Resilience and Wellbeing, has today welcomed the publication of the findings from the Northern Ireland Youth Wellbeing Survey.

Amanda commented:

“This is a vital piece of research which supports the evidence we see and hear each and every day from children, young people and those who care for them, right across Northern Ireland. The survey showed that 12.6% of children and young people in Northern Ireland experience common mood disorders such as anxiety and depression – around 25% higher than in other UK nations, reflecting similar trends we see in adults across Northern Ireland.

The survey also highlighted the complex and multi-faceted reasons behind these issues, including exposure to family trauma and adversity, poor child health and disability, having special educational needs, living in a household in receipt of social security benefits, and parental mental health. The survey showed particular issues with older children, including older teenage girls. The survey showed this particular group had the highest rates of anxiety and depression, but the study also demonstrated that the issues start at a very young age, with particularly high rates amongst young boys aged 5-10.

Action Mental Health has been delivering services to help promote early intervention and prevention for almost twenty years and as a local charity with local expertise, we have developed these services to help meet the very specific set of circumstances we face in Northern Ireland. We are seeing ever-increasing demand for our services and are heavily reliant on fundraising by the local community to help us meet that demand. The impact of the pandemic on fundraising income and on demand for our services demonstrates the need for more statutory funding of these vital services to ensure their long term sustainability.

The eagerly anticipated ten-year mental health strategy offers us a unique opportunity to really prioritise early intervention and prevention at all ages, but especially with our children and young people. Investing in these services now, will ensure a healthier and more resilient population in the years ahead.”  

The Youth Wellbeing Survey was commissioned by the Health and Social Care Board. The survey and report were compiled by Ulster University, Queen’s University Belfast, and the Mental Health Foundation, over 18 months.

You can find out more about the survey by clicking here.