Children's Mental Health Week took place this week: 7-13 February 2022.
This year's theme is Growing Together.
At ERC this week we have been encouraging children (and adults) to consider how they have grown,
and how they can help others to grow.
We are delighted to showcase how we have marked this hugely important week –
one that marks the First Birthday of our online community hub!
The online community hub was set up in February 2021 in response to community needs during Covid19 Lockdown – when the greatest need at the time was support with mental health and well-being. The ERC school and wider community has been on a very important journey ever since, with a firm focus on improving the mental health and well-being of our students, staff, parents/carers and our wider North Belfast and Glengormley communities. We were awarded “Take 5 School” status by the Education Authority and Public Health Agency in May 2021 in recognition of this journey and we continue to embed the Take 5 steps to well-being as part of day to day life at school. The return to school has been nothing short of a whirlwind challenge for all of us, but none more so than for our young people. This has been a huge transition for our children to manage as they navigate returning to full-time face to face teaching and assessments. It is evident that our young people are continuing to struggle significantly with their mental health at this time of transition. Anxiety and feelings of stress and low mood have been on the increase, while subsequently support service capacity has been at an all-time low due to increased pressure and staff shortages. Care among our young people is of fundamental and paramount focus in the ERC ethos and this extends to our staff and wider community. We will continue to showcase our online events and signpost available support services via our online community hub. We are also working in the background on the revival of our face to face community hub which we hope to have back up and running on the other side of this current wave of Omicron.
It has been a very difficult couple of months for all of us, but February marks the start of the Celtic Spring Calendar and there’s a “quare stretch” in those evenings again. Hope is on the horizon and we’ll make it through this difficult time – TOGETHER.
Enjoy the Showcase.
Miss C Deery
Head of ERC Community
If you or your child is affected by any of the material shared, please get in touch with us via the Contact Us link and we will do what we can to help.
