Schools from across Northamptonshire, who have demonstrated their commitment to positive mental health and wellbeing, were at Northampton Town Football Club on Saturday January 18th to receive Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS) awards.
Leader of Northamptonshire County Council Cllr Matt Golby, Northampton Town Footballers Harry Smith & Shaun McWilliams, Mike Simons, from the Northamptonshire Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS) Programme & Educational Psychology Service and Victoria Leitner from Public Health Northamptonshire joined schools to celebrate just some of the great work going on across the county.
The following schools were presented with awards: Avenue Infant (Bronze); Earls Barton Primary School (Bronze); Rockingham Primary (Bronze); Billingbrook School (Silver); Brackley Junior School (Silver), Grange Primary Academy, Kettering (Silver); Headlands Primary (Silver); Helmdon Primary (Silver); Kettering Buccleuch Academy (Silver); Newbottle & Charlton Primary School (Silver); Pattishall CE Primary (Silver); South End Junior (Silver); Woodford Halse Primary (Silver Renewal); and Kingsthorpe Village Primary (Gold).
The presentation also provided an opportunity for the Talk out Loud programme to launch a countdown to Northamptonshire Mental Health Awareness Day, an annual County-wide event to help raise awareness amongst young people about mental health and mental health stigma. It is set to take place on Friday 14 February 2020 and is part of the Public Health Northamptonshire Talk Out Loud Programme; Northamptonshire schools will be taking part in mental health awareness day by getting involved in activities to raise awareness of mental health stigma in lots of interesting, fun and inclusive ways.
Cllr Matt Golby said “We are delighted to present TaMHS awards to the Northamptonshire schools here today, and recognise their commitment to positive mental health and well-being. We would like to say thank you to Northampton Town Football Club for their continued commitment to encouraging the conversation about mental health.”
Victoria Leitner, Programme Manager at Public Health Northamptonshire, said “Northamptonshire remains strongly committed to ensuring that young people have the confidence and understanding to acknowledge they have a mental health need, without fear of stigma. It is also really important that they know where to go for help and support. Our Talk out Loud Programme aims to get across to young people that we all need to look after ourselves to help achieve positive mental health and wellbeing. Sometimes we need help and support with our mental health and that’s ok – initiatives such as Northamptonshire Mental Health Awareness Day help to start some of these conversations.”
Kelvin Thomas, Chairman of Northampton Town Football Club added, “We are proud to support the Talk Out Loud Programme. Hopefully our involvement helps to spread the message that it is OK to ask for help and support when you need it. This is a fantastic campaign that we are pleased to continue to support.”