The Mental Health Family Hour (MHFH) has been relaunched with an episode focusing on young people’s mental health.
AdvertisementThe MHFH was originally launched in April 2020 to support families in the first lockdown.
With another spell of home learning for young people, poor mental health due to a lack of social contact and routine is a problem many are facing.
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The episode is part of a new series that will be streamed live on Twitch.
Young people, parents and carers can also watch the episode afterwards on
the YouTube playlist.
The first hour-long broadcast addresses concerns such as:
Sam Tyrer, Prevention and Engagement lead for Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT), said: “It’s so important for young people to feel comfortable enough to open up and have beneficial conversations around mental health with their parents and teachers.
“The Mental Health Family Hour is designed to help with just that – through listening to people who have lived experience of struggling with their mental health, parents and carers gain an insight into how their children may be feeling and what they can do to help support them.”
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The Mental Health Family Hour was an initiative started during the first lockdown by Sam, who also founded the Mental Health for Schools Education Programme ‘Change Talks’ and presenter Dave Cottrell, who operates online under the name Mindset By Dave.
Before lockdown, Change Talks would go into five schools across Lancashire every half-term and deliver a six-week Mental Health Education Programme.
Both Sam and Dave wanted to ensure that during lockdown children were still getting access to PHSE style mental health education, so they launched a weekly show.
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The show has become very popular, with over 1,000 people having watched each of the 12 episodes of the first series.
The pair even received a ‘Points of Light’ award from the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, in December, recognising them as outstanding individual volunteers and people who are making a change in their community.
Paul Hopley, Deputy Director for Mental Health for Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System, said: “It’s really important that we look after our mental health as much as possible during this latest lockdown.
“Make sure you ask for help if you need it. The NHS is still here for you and there are many services, both NHS and others, that can help to support your mental health during this time.
“There is support available to help you with your mental health and wellbeing, including free access to online counselling and support services, support specifically for children and young people, information about mental health support and crisis lines and details of local and national mental health services. Visit our Mental Health support page for more information.”
Episodes will be streamed live on Thursdays at 10am on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mindsetbydave
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Have you or someone you loved benefited from the Mental Health Family Hour? Let us know in the comments below.