Cambian Northampton School celebrate Mental Health Awareness Day
Celebrating Young Minds’ #HelloYellow scheme, staff and students dressed in yellow to help raise awareness for supporting young people’s mental health across the country. Throughout the day, students engaged with sports, animal, and art therapies, as well as attending a mental welfare talk led by Cambian Northampton School’s wellbeing officer.
On Thursday 10th October 2024, Cambian Northampton School -- a specialist school for students with social, emotional and mental health challenges -- celebrated Mental Health Awareness Day with a day of activities catered to students’ needs and wants.
Sport therapy saw the students head to Northampton’s own Soccer Shack, where students faced off against staff in a football match, while others took to the arcade machines for some multiplayer games with other students. Once the students won the football match, students returned to the school for some time with reptiles and art therapy.
The reptiles proved a hit with the students, who were in awe at their surprising speeds and textures. Many students Cambian deal with have sensory difficulties related to trauma and autism, so the rough textures of the tortoise, the smoothness of the snake, and the spikiness of the bearded dragon provided them with some much-needed comfort and relief that they may never have felt before.
Meanwhile, Cambian Northampton School’s art teacher ran an art therapy session, allowing students to be expressive and creative in a manner of ways. Whether that was via simple colouring to relax, Pollock-esque splatter paintings, or vision-boards based on their interests, the art let the students be free with creativity.
After a lunch themed around #HelloYellow, the students sat in a mental health talk with Cambian Northampton School’s wellbeing officer, emphasising the importance of looking after their mental health, and ways to relax and overcome challenges when things get tough. Students were captivated and aimed to practise what they had learnt in future, which should hopefully allow them to self-regulate when triggered both in and outside of school.
Ultimately, the day was a huge success and the students at Cambian left with a new and positive attitude to mental health. Awareness definitely achieved!
Head teacher, Leanne Dodds, commented “A lovely day was had by all. Students enjoyed wearing yellow, and enjoyed the activities”.
For more information about #HelloYellow please click the following link: www.youngminds.org.uk/support-us/fundraising/helloyellow