HeadsUP and the Exeter Chiefs Community Team come together to tackle mental health awareness in local schools

HeadsUP Mental Health Awareness has teamed up with the Exeter Chiefs Community Team to offer mental health awareness sessions to local schools.

As mental health is hitting the headlines more and more, helped in part by the increasingly high-profile reports of mental health issues within sport, the need to educate youngsters to look after their mental health, is crucial.

The sessions, run jointly by HeadsUP and the Exeter Chiefs Community Team, have three main aims:

• To get young people confident in talking about mental health
• To empower and equip young people to look after their mental health
• To educate young people on the positive relationship between mental and physical health

The sessions are being delivered to children across the age ranges in Primary and Secondary schools. Each session is made up of interactive group work and discussion, followed by physical activities linking in with the theory highlighted in the earlier sessions.

The link between physical health and mental health is the core message of the sessions. If an individual is fit and healthy, they are more likely to have a positive mental attitude. They will probably be more productive at school and have more energy to cope with the stresses and strains of everyday life.

The sessions are aimed at being a preventative measure. The hope is that if young people can learn to look after their and their peer’s mental health, it will allow them to build their resilience ready for adult life, and all that brings with it.

Paula Baker, Founder of HeadsUP Mental Health Awareness commented: “Teaming up with the Exeter Chiefs Community Team has proved to be a huge benefit for the youngsters we are talking to. Seeing such a high-profile sports team take such an active part in mental health well-being, can only encourage youngsters, that look up to the team, to look at their own mental and physical health.

It is that link between physical and mental health that the sessions really focus on, and having the Chiefs team take part in the sessions really emphasise that.”