Â鶹ԼÅÄ

Children's Mental Health Week 2022: Growing Together

Media caption,

Children's Mental Health Week: Kids tell us their top tips

It's Children's Mental Health Week from 7-13 February and we've got the rundown on everything you need to know.

This year's theme is "Growing Together" and the focus is on encouraging you to consider how you've grown, and how you can help others to grow.

CMHW is run by the mental health charity Place2Be and, this year, they have teamed up with Bafta kids to organise two special virtual assemblies, hosted by celebrity guests.

Don't forget to leave us a comment below and let us know what you and your class are doing to reflect Children's Mental Health Week.

Why it matters...

Image caption,

The coronavirus pandemic has led to lots of disruption in schools

Children and young people's mental health has never been more important, particularly following the coronavirus pandemic.

After almost two years of school disruption during lockdown, children have been getting used to returning to their classrooms.

New research carried out by Place2Be ahead of CMHW has found that 95 per cent of staff working in UK schools have witnessed increased levels of pupil anxiety since the start of the school year.

In a survey of 1,130 school leaders, it was found that 86 per cent of teaching staff had noticed an increase in low self-esteem among pupils since returning to the classroom following lockdown.

Image source, Place2Be

What do kids think?

We spoke to children at a school in West Yorkshire to find out how they have been helping one another.

The primary school pupils offered lots of ideas on how to manage mental wellbeing.

Like Steven for example, who said the best way to grow is by trying new things: "To help with my mental health I've been trying lots of new things like riding my bike and I've tried to get better at football."

"The main group I missed during lockdown was swimming," said Amelia.

"Swimming always refreshed my mind after a hard day so when we came back I realised how much I missed it," she added.

Ryan points towards communication as being a really important thing in helping you grow.

"I think you should talk to your loved ones to see if they can help you," he said.

"You can see if they've been struggling too and maybe they've even been in your situation. By getting advice you can have a better life."

So what's happening this week?

Image source, Place2Be

This year's theme is about growing emotionally and finding ways to help each other grow.

The website says: "Challenges and setbacks can help us to grow and adapt and trying new things can help us to move beyond our comfort zone into a new realm of possibility and potential.

"However, emotional growth is often a gradual process that happens over time, and sometimes we might feel a bit stuck."

Lots of activities will be happening throughout the week.

Two virtual assembles will be available to watch for free on the Place2Be website.

One of the assemblies is aimed at primary school pupils and is hosted by former Blue Peter presenter, Lindsey Russell.

It features conversations about growth between Strictly Come Dancing's Oti Mabuse and some school children.

The other is aimed at secondary school pupils and is hosted by The Voice presenter, Emma Willis.

It's centred around a conversation with Shadow and Bone actor, Kit Young, and CÂ鶹ԼÅÄ's The Dumping Ground actor, Kia Pegg.

How is your school taking part in Children's Mental Health Week? Leave us a comment.