Be Positive!
By taking part in our third OutRight, the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK)’s annual youth campaign, this year the children were able to:
Learn about mental health, and why it’s as important as physical health.
Learn why we need to challenge the stigma and discrimination that exists around mental health.
Understand how mental health is linked to children’s rights.
Think about how they can look after their own mental health and wellbeing.
Find out what to do if they’re concerned about someone else’s mental health in their life.
Use their voices (Article 12) to take action on their right to good mental health (Article 24).
How are children's rights connected to their mental health?
The rights highlighted in this website apply to every child. Article 2 explains that these rights apply to all children everywhere, no matter who they are, where they come from or what they look like. Many of the Articles link to mental health and the following explains how all those Articles apply to every child.
Article 3 is important for every child’s mental health as it means adults should consider how the decisions they make will affect children’s mental health and that they should do what’s best for the child. The role of governments is included in this Article too – it means they must make sure that people and places responsible for looking after children, like schools and children’s homes, are doing a good job of looking after children’s mental health.
Article 12 is vitally important because it means every child’s opinion matters when it comes to talking about their mental health and choices relating to it, including how they take care of their mental health and what kind of support or treatment they may receive.
In relation to mental health, Article 13 means that every child must be free to express their thoughts and opinions about mental health. It also means they should have access to a range of information about mental health and the support available to them, as long as it's within the law.
Article 24 states that every child has the right to the best possible health care. This covers their mental and physical health, and governments must provide this. Other things they must provide that are included in this Article include clean water, nutritious food, a clean environment and education on health and wellbeing. These are all very important for children’s mental health.
Every child has the right to education (Article 29). In respect to mental health, every child’s right to education includes developing their talents, personality, and abilities to the full. Understanding and being aware of our minds and mental health is important to ensure children develop to their full potential.
Throughout the school, the children have discovered what 'mental health' means and how to support their own. During our focus on wellbeing, our oldest children in school, in Badgers' class, were able to take part in a special UNICEF webinar on mental health and also attend a presentation by Emmanuel Jal.
Emmanuel Jal at Broughton Village Hall
Mr Jal's performance for Badgers' class and other schools had a profound effect on everyone that attended and his messages of positivity and 'owning your mind' resonated deeply with all who were there. As a direct result of this, the whole school designed posters to reflect their hopes for the future that can be viewed in detail on this site.
Click the tabs above to view the children's artwork and more details of their learning this year.