Children in Primary 6 and 7 participated in online mental health and wellbeing workshops this week with the fabulous team from HIP Psychology.
Since the removal of the Healthy Happy Minds funding, there has been almost zero funding available to schools to support the wellbeing of children in the primary sector. Despite this, the issues pupils in all schools encounter – bereavement, family breakdowns, illness, anxieties about life including SEAG – remain.
Through interagency meetings with housing associations, elected representatives and other members of the local community our very own Mr Gray has brought this to their attention and sought to find a solution and pathway to funding. When a new development such as the Bawnwall takes place, funding is brought into the local area to support the residents within that community.
After a lot of discussion, Mr Gray secured funding from Ark Housing and Radius Housing to provide a Hip Psychology workshop for every P6 and P7 class in 12 local schools within a 5 mile radius of the new Bawnwall social housing development which is up the dead road beside Tesco Castlebawn.
This funding provides approx. 1000 children with the same level of wellbeing support regardless of the colour of their school tie and was very much appreciated by the Castle Gardens children this week. The session focused on helping children to recognise their own feelings, the depth of them and reinforced some of the many different strategies, including breathing techniques, to reduce the impact of anxiety.
Our thanks are extended to Ark Housing and Radius Housing for providing this fantastic opportunity for children across all our local schools, to the team from Hip Psychology and to Mr Gray for co-ordinating all this through persistent education and lobbying.
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