Inside Matters | Local schools kick off conversation on mental health

Local school students kicked off a conversation on mental health during a day of wellness, music and other activities at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The event, run by Tottenham Hotspur Foundation for participants in its Premier League Inspires programme, came earlier this week ahead of the Premier League’s Inside Matters campaign launching today (Thursday).

There were 50 students who attended from Mulberry Academy Woodside, in Haringey, and Holy Family Catholic School, in Walthamstow.

They took part in activities focused on mindfulness, core daily habits and overcoming stress, provided by Wellness for Children, as well as sessions exploring how music impacts the brain, breathwork and meditation, provided Amelia Poamz. They also got to enjoy a Stadium tour.

Zahra, a Year 8 student from Mulberry Academy, said: “I learnt how important it is to have a routine and keep things simple. Not everything has to be overly complicated.

“I’ll also take away things about organising yourself and keeping fit during your day, as well as meditating. I feel like I can really use that to calm down sometimes.”

Jemima Rees, deputy head of Year 8 at Mulberry Academy, said she would look to incorporate meditation, journalling and other exercises for children in school after learning more about them at the Stadium.

“There were a really nice range of activities to help students challenge perceptions around mental health. It’s not necessarily a massive investment of time you need to make to have actually quite a significant impact on your ability to manage emotions – the main struggle, I think, a lot of our students face.

“It’s something we don’t explicitly teach and yet we expect them to do.

“To have this time away from the school environment, it’s the first time most of the students will have had an in-depth think about mindfulness, meditation and wellbeing.”

She added how being able to access the Stadium is a great boost for students.

“We’re so close to so many incredible national landmarks and yet through the socio-economic circumstances a lot of our children face, they don’t get to access these things very much, so they might as well be far away.

“I think having these opportunities to see that the place they live and where they come from is exciting, it’s really important for their sense of identity and self-esteem.”

Students also got educated on healthy food and drink choices, through a smoothie-making workshop, whilst there were presentations from Kooth.com, an online space of support and counselling for young people, and a group from St Anne’s Catholic School for Girls whose social action project on mental health has seen them represent the Foundation at a national Premier League Inspires event.

Premier League Inspires empowers students at risk of not meeting their potential through a series of regular face-to-face group sessions, mentoring, workshops and social action projects.

It is funded by the Premier League and Professional Footballers’ Association through the Premier League Charitable Fund.

Joining students in kicking off a conversation around mental health, as part of the Inside Matters campaign, has been sport and exercise psychologist Karl Steptoe. Catch his thoughts in a special episode of our Off The Shelf podcast.