About | OpenMinds York

WHAT IS

OPEN MINDS?

OpenMinds is a student-led intervention, providing mental health education to school students by training University students, through courses with professionals, to deliver workshops in local schools.

MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS

20% of adolescents may experience a mental health problem in any given year

70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems do not receive appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age

SOURCE: mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-children-and-young-people

We aim to:

Provide university and school students with mental health education to improve mental health treatment-seeking behaviours.

Reduce stigma associated with mental illness by enhancing knowledge and positively influencing attitudes and behaviours in university and school students.

Promote awareness of mental illness in school and university students, and support leadership among the student body.

Recognise signs of mental illness in themselves, family and friends.

Provide students with key information about where to get help.

Improve understanding of mental health as an essential component of overall well-being.

Challenge negative stereotypes of people with mental health issues.

WHAT THE PUPILS SAY

"

“The volunteers were nice and fun” and I felt “comfortable with everyone talking about” these issues.

“The volunteers made everything simple and didn’t confuse anything. They made me feel a lot better with myself.”

“I liked how we discussed how to cope with symptoms" and "Knowing you have someone to talk to about things.”

WORKSHOPS WE OFFER:

Anxiety Disorders
Eating Disorders
Mood Disorders
Substance Misuse
Self-harm and Suicide

How do we train volunteers?

Volunteers attend monthly sessions. In the session a mental health professional gives a lecture about an area of mental health prominent in todays society.

Volunteers must attend two out of four crash courses and one classroom training session in order to volunteer into schools. They must have a DBS check for working with vulnerable children, which they apply for during the year. Finally, volunteers must also complete an online safeguarding course in safeguarding children.