Supporting the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Young People in Chester
The Ursula Keyes Trust is delighted to support Chester Schools Christian Work (CSCW) with a grant towards a new initiative designed to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people across Chester.
The project will provide 1,000 Year 7 pupils in Chester schools with their own practical mental health and wellbeing toolkit, giving young people a range of simple coping skills and strategies that they can use whenever they need them.
Each toolkit will contain more than 50 different ideas and techniques, recognising that every young person is different and that a strategy which works well for one may not necessarily suit another.
The resources are being designed to be practical and accessible. Printed on high-quality card, they will be small enough to fit easily into a school bag, while individual cards can be kept in a wallet or phone case or even used as bookmarks. This means young people can keep their preferred coping strategies close at hand and refer to them when needed.
An important part of the project is giving young people choice. Rather than prescribing a single approach to wellbeing, the toolkits will introduce pupils to a wide variety of techniques and encourage them to discover the strategies that work best for them in their own circumstances.
The grant will enable CSCW to produce and distribute 1,000 high-quality toolkits, providing a resource for each pupil. Additionally, part of the grant will be invested in specialist training for the CSCW team. Staff will receive school-specific safeguarding and trauma-informed practice training, helping to ensure that their work with young people follows current best practice and responds appropriately to the challenges pupils may be experiencing.
By combining practical resources for pupils with additional training for those supporting them, the project has the potential to make a meaningful difference to young people’s wellbeing across Chester.
We are very pleased to support Chester Schools Christian Work with this initiative and to help provide 1,000 young people with practical tools they can take away, explore and continue to use in their everyday lives.