Mental Health Toolkit for Young People by Volunteering Matters
Mental Health Toolkit co-designed by Volunteering Matters and young people.
This Mental Health Toolkit was funded by The Mayor of London to support young people’s mental health. The toolkit was co-designed by Volunteering Matters and Young People who champion positive mental health.
Teaching young people about mental health and well-being in schools is essential, as it promotes awareness and understanding, reduces stigma, helps with prevention, supports early intervention, and encourages positive habits.
Why focus on MH? This documents explores the benefits in exploring Mental Health in schools and why it is important to deliver it within the curriculum
Background reading to support the effective teaching of mental health and wellbeing including facts and figures, definitions, and links to other organisations that can support the delivery of Youth Social Action.
Lesson 1: Understanding and recognising mental health wellbeing in yourself and others. Lesson 2: Enable young people to understand factors which can contribute to mental health with strategies on how they can start to take care of themselves. Lesson 3: Understand daily factors which can have an impact on us mentally. Lesson 4: Learning about simple self-care techniques, including being physically active. As well as developing emotional literacy and resilience in young people to understand feelings. Lesson 5: Continuing the focus on emotional literacy and resilience to help young people understand how they are feeling and what they can do when things do not feel right. With a particular focus on Art and Music.
This resource on mental health focuses on the importance of mental health and well-being. It maps opportunities as to when mental health can be delivered across the national curriculum with suggested activities.
Teaching young people about mental health and well-being is essential, as it promotes awareness and understanding. At each key stage, we have used the National Curriculum, providing links and examples of how mental health can be delivered through a range of subjects. Each key stage has 3-5 bespoke lesson plans through which the topic of mental health can be delivered as part of the inspire and inform steps of Youth Social Action. Providing the young people with a strong basis for them to link these to Social Action projects at either a local or national level.
Schools have a responsibility to tackle poverty and promote equality of opportunities. Teaching young people about poverty can empower them to understand the subject and its impact, motivating them to act within a school, community, or city. Using the National Curriculum, we have linked as many opportunities as possible to deliver poverty through a range of different subject areas. These opportunities can be used to either deliver the topic as a stand-alone or through cross-curricular planning with a number of different subject areas depending on the focus of the school.
Refers to activities that young people do to make a positive difference to others while developing key skills and attributes and having fun. YSA can take place in various contexts (i.e. at home, schools, youth clubs etc) and can include volunteering, fundraising, campaigning or supporting peers. We believe social action can play an essential role: in young lives, the success of a school, the local community or more.
Our Resource Hub aims to act as a Youth Social Action search engine, offering tailored results to inspire and guide. The hub hosts a wide variety of resources, including our own Youth Social Action Toolkit, case studies, research reports, and helpful resources from other reputable organisations in the sector.
Our Resource Hub aims to act as a Youth Social Action search engine, offering tailored results to inspire and guide. The hub hosts a wide variety of resources, including our own Youth Social Action Toolkit, case studies, research reports, and helpful resources from other reputable organisations in the sector.
To find appropriate resources, use the filter feature to select the relevant options. You can filter by key stage (1-5), YSA theme (e.g. poverty), or a particular skill (e.g. communication). You can also filter by resource owner (Ormiston Trust or external organisation) and resource type, such as lesson plans. If you know what you are looking for, you can use the search bar.
To save or download resources, please sign up for a free account. In your user area, you can organise your saved items for quick and easy access. On the resource results page, you can save or download multiple resource quickly by using the tickbox feature.
Our Youth Social Action Toolkit has been carefully developed by industry professionals with input from young people to guide school leaders, support staff, and young people through a Youth Social Action project. Our curriculum guides clearly outline how YSA can be integrated into the curriculum of schools with limited time.
We don’t gatekeep – by sharing our sector knowledge and resources, we aim to enrich the lives of all young people by fostering skills development, improving agency and wellbeing, and promoting active citizenship.
The first step of the YSA process is to be inspired by an issue you care about! Check out our inspirational case studies on what you could do!
The second step of the YSA process is to explore your options! You‘ll need to research the issue that inspired you to take action to understand how you can help.
Ready to start planning your project? Access our Youth Social Action Toolkit here.
The third step of the YSA process is to plan your project! Lucky for you, we have a Project Planning Template for that.
The fourth step of the YSA process is to carry out your plan! This is when the physical activities involved like fundraising, campaigning, and volunteering kick off.
The fifth and final step of the YSA process is to reflect! Looking back at your plan, did you achieve your aims? What went well and what didn’t go so well? Can you sustain your project? Or did you take steps to ensure further projects aren’t needed?