Supporting young people’s mental health through the ‘Home Goals’ project

Date:

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is working with Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation to support young people’s mental health and wellbeing in the district.Image of two people.

The new ‘Homes Goals’ initiative supports people aged 11 to 18 who use our Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Wakefield. Home Goals began in October 2020 and now has a regular group who attend.

Held over a six-week period, the young people take part in weekly exercise sessions with Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation, alongside wellbeing education and support from the Trust’s Wakefield CAMHS team.

Emma Bourne, primary practice support worker, and Cheryl, exercise instructor, at Wakefield CAMHS said “The wellbeing education focuses on developing young people’s awareness of the basics of mental health, including exercise, diet, sleep, healthy relationships and self-care. By encouraging young people to reflect on and make changes to these basic areas, we hope that they will in turn be able to boost their mood and develop better resilience to face challenges in their lives. It’s brilliant to see their confidence grow and to hear about the small changes they make to their lives; which can have a big impact.”

James Stephenson, project lead at Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation, said: “The weekly events allow young people to get together, albeit online currently, and release their energy through our fun but challenging exercise sessions, followed by very important tips and advice of managing their mental health. We look forward to being able to see all the attendees in person when we can invite them along to the stadium to continue with live interaction workshops.”

One of the young people who currently attends Home Goals said: “I have had anxiety for a long time. I have learnt about breathing exercises and things like that before, but no one has ever talked to me about things like my diet, sleep and exercise. I never thought things like that could make that much of a difference to something like anxiety, but they do.”

Following the completion of ‘Home Goals’, the initiative will lead into the second part of the programme named, ‘Safety Nets’, where young people will take part in weekly, face-to-face workshops at the Mobile Rocket Stadium.

For more information about Wakefield CAMHS, including mental health and wellbeing resources for children and young people, please visit: www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk/camhs-wakefield

Supporting young people’s mental health through the ‘Home Goals’ project

time to read: 2 min