Beautiful Minds

The Achieving for Children Richmond Youth Service is excited to announce that we will be running its first-ever cross-school mental health event for young people aged 10-19. The event is called ‘Beautiful Minds’ and is being planned collaboratively by the Kingston and Richmond Youth Council. We extend this invitation to all schools across the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames to join us on the day with students who are part of established school support groups, mental health ambassadors or students they feel would benefit from the day.Event AimsThis free event is part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 and will be a celebration of the ways in which the Richmond Youth Service supports young people's mental well-being, while providing young people with access to local mental health support services and wellbeing activities . Our hope is that we will be joined by many schools and youth community groups from across the borough who will be able to establish new and long-lasting relationships for both young people and professionals alike. Youth service staff will be supported on the day by Richmond Mind, Off the Record and Free2Be, who will run wellbeing activity workshops and stalls providing education, guidance, and links to additional community support structures. This is, in addition, to support from our own Richmond Youth Service staff team and peer mental health ambassadors from the Kingston and Richmond Youth Council. All of this should amount to a wealth of support and socialisation opportunities for young people to access.Our Background in mental health supportAs a service working with young people, we know supporting the mental wellbeing of our young people is very important. We actively embed the NHS 5 Steps to Wellbeing within our planned curriculum. Our youth workers are trained in supporting the wellbeing of young people and the activities hosted by the Richmond youth club provisions supports young people's mental wellbeing through its range of activities, groups and opportunities it provides its members. The Kingston and Richmond Youth Council members have undergone mental health ambassador training from Richmond Mind to provide them with the skills and knowledge to support their peers. Off The Record uses our garage space twice a week to provide one-to- one support for local young people. It is with this in mind that we are thrilled that Heatham House will play host to this event as it is an already well-established safe space for young people.