Welcome to your February Kooth & Qwell news update!
February is a busy month for Kooth Digital Health with one of the UK’s largest mental health campaigns taking place ‘Children’s Mental Health Week’ from 7th February – 14th February 2022 aswell as celebrating LGBT+ History Month. This is an important month in the calendar for anyone who works with children, young people, adults and families as we all work together to raise awareness and remove stigma. This month’s news update highlights our February activities, awareness raising campaigns, the latest resources and not to mention how you can support us this Children’s Mental Health Week.
What’s Kooth?
www.kooth.com is a free, safe and anonymous online mental health & emotional wellbeing platform available to support children & young people aged 10 to 25 in South Tyneside.
www.qwell.io is a free, safe and anonymous online mental health & emotional wellbeing platform available to support all adults over 24 in South Tyneside.
Who can we support and how can you help?
Schools & Colleges – Both services can be a source of support for education staff, students, parent carers, siblings and families. Pick and choose from both Kooth & Qwell resources which can be shared on your school/college website, social media pages and building. Get in touch if you would like to book a free assembly/awareness session for students.
NHS staff & patients – Both services can be a source of support for both NHS staff and patients across different services. You can promote either service to patients & staff across mental health, primary care, hospitals, 0-19 school & health visiting and ambulance services. Maybe you can add information to a newsletter, on your website or on social media.
Local authority – Both Kooth & Qwell can be a great source of support for many different departments across the local authority. Whether your Early Help, Housing, Public Health, Social Care, Education or Transport.
Voluntary & Community Sector – Both services can be helpful for staff, volunteers and service users you support. Kooth & Qwell work alongside VCS organisations supporting services users who may need support. Choose from our resources which can be shared on your website, newsletter, social media or even a poster on display in your building.
What’s happening this month (Kooth) ?
Our fabulous content team continues to create a fantastic programme of monthly activities and podcasts for young people to get involved with. This February we’ll be celebrating LGBT+ History Month, talking about resilience (helping young people to understand what this means), talking about health relationships and drawing attention to styles & difficulties (recognising that we’re all different and learn in our own way) Please find the monthly timetable, which can be shared on your platforms here.
Children’s Mental Health Week (7th – 14th February 2022)
This year ‘Children’s Mental Health Week’ theme is ‘Growing Together’. We’re encouraging schools and organisations to join us in our mission to remind young people of the fantastic online platform we provide. Share our colourful graphic (which can you find here) on your platforms during the week along with the suggested social media messages below.
Social media messages:
As part of #ChildensMentalHealthWeek, join Kooth’s #GrowingTogether discussion board and share what’s on your mind with peers. Visit kooth.com today to get started.
Join Kooth this #ChildensMentalHealthWeek as they continue to raise awareness and the importance of children’s #mentalhealth and share helpful resources.
Primary School (Transition Workshops for Year 6) – Bookings now open
Primary schools across South Tyneside are being invited to book their free workshop in preparation for Spring/Summer term supporting year 6 moving onto secondary school. The transition workshops provide students with an opportunity to explore their feelings, feel more prepared and know where to go for support if they feel unsure or nervous in the first few months of adjustments. Interested in finding out more? Email [email protected]
LGBT+ History Month (Kooth & Qwell)
To support LGBT+ History Month we’ll be sharing the message that any young people from the LGBTQIA+ community are welcome to join Kooth and celebrate pride. You can join us by sharing our social media image (here) and the suggested messages below:
Happy LGBTQ+ History Month! If you need a safe space to talk or celebrate pride, support is available at Kooth. #LGBTHM22
Talking about mental health can be difficult, but those in the LGBTQIA+ community may face extra challenges in getting the help and support they need. If you are struggling, here’s a gentle reminder that Kooth is alongside you. #LGBTHM2
In honour and celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month, we are hosting some online information sessions around how our services Kooth.com (for young people) and Qwell.io (for adults in some areas of the region) can help support the mental & emotional health of those who identify as LGBTQ+. There will a choice of 2 sessions to book onto:
Wednesday 23rd February, 4-5pm
Thursday 24th February, 11am-12pm
You can sign up for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-kooth-qwell-can-support-lgbtq-mental-health-north-east-tickets-257863395357
What’s happening this month (Qwell)?
This month we focus on encouraging adults to seek support by ‘opening up’ and trying out www.qwell.io
We’ll be joining in with the ‘Time to Talk’ day (Thursday 3rd February), LGBT+ History Month and drawing attention to the various sources of support we have to offer adults alongside our friendly team of counsellors on our platform. We’ve shared a suggested social media post that everyone’s welcome to share on Thursday promoting Qwell across South Tyneside.
Social media post:
It is #TimeToTalkDay.
Qwell’s #OpeningUp collection gives you access to a variety of videos, podcasts, articles and activities that will help support your mental wellbeing by connecting with our team and others.
Sign up today at Qwell.io.
Resources
We’re providing another reminder that Brandmaster now offers you direct access to a range of resources to compliment your social media and online platform communications. Easy to download assets can be found here.
Don’t forget you can replenish your posters and cards by getting in touch to place a free order. Our real posters and cards are great for placing on display within your classroom or community venue. The cards are small and discreet making it easy to hand these to young people or adults who may need support.
Support packs for education staff, workplaces and students
Our fantastic team at Kooth Digital health have produced brand new guides providing education staff, workplaces and students with the information, tips and resources they need in the event of a significant incident which may then have an impact on young people’s mental health but also those involved in the incident.
Education staff under 18’s – here
Students under 18 – here
Students 18+ – here
Additional information & social media
You can request free face to face or virtual information sessions or presentations for a range of audiences and settings. If you would like to book a session for your school, organisation or for a group of young people or adults you work with (this can include staff team meetings as we offer training) please complete a booking form here – https://forms.gle/CgwrpFCTiuT6z9TRA
You can also follow us on social media for latest updates and activities.
Spotify: Kooth Podcast
Instagram:@kooth_uk
Twitter: @JAustinKooth
