Stress Awareness Month has been held every April since 1992 to raise awareness of the causes of stress and the support available for our modern-day stress epidemic. It is a time to focus on the impact of stress and the stigma surrounding mental health issues as well as a time to talk about the effects of stress, mental health and emotional issues with friends, families, colleagues, and professionals. High levels of stress can be very damaging to our health and should be taken as seriously as physical health concerns. Stress is a significant factor in mental health problems including anxiety and depression. It is also linked to physical health problems like heart disease, problems with our immune system, insomnia and digestive problems. Therefore, it is vitally important for us to educate young people to help them understand what can cause personal stress and what steps they can take to reduce it for themselves and those around them.
The theme for this year’s Stress Awareness Month is #LittleByLittle.

Where can I read more? To read more about Stress Awareness Month 2024, you can visit the Stress Management Society website here.

Links to national resources: The Mentally Healthy Schools website has created two toolkits - one for primary schools, and one for secondary schools. The toolkits include a number of resources for pupils and staff, to help them and the young people they teach to manage and cope when stress becomes overwhelming. You can download the primary and secondary school toolkits here.

You can access some mindfulness activities for young children here.

Mental Health UK has developed a young people’s programme called ‘Bloom’ to help equip 14-18 year olds with the tools and knowledge to maintain their mental health through life’s transitions, both now and in the future. You can access a range of animated videos based on the mental health resilience workshops from Bloom. Each video focuses on a topic that young people have highlighted as important to them and supports building their resilience through suggested tools and techniques. Some animations have downloadable worksheets which will allow young people to review what they have learnt, and explore ways to improve their resilience. Access the resources here.

The British Red Cross have produced some wellbeing activities to encourage young people and children to explore the resources they have to manage and understand stress. The activities are also designed to help improve their own and others’ wellbeing in different situations. There are different activities for primary and secondary age children which are linked to two new animated videos. You can access and download the resources for free here.

Support within West Sussex: West Sussex has a mental health support page within the West Sussex Services for school’s website where you can access resources, information, and support in relation to mental health in schools.