A short piece on our CSR work with Stormbreak
Mental Health Awareness Week, hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, takes place annually and this year the focus is Body Image. There are lots of sources of mental health problems, but one thing is clear - it can affect anyone at any age.
That’s why in 2018/19 as our Corporate Social Responsibility project, we partnered with Stormbreak, supporting them with our consultancy advice to help them get their project off the ground and obtain charity status.
Stormbreak’s (now a registered charity*) focus is to create mentally health cultures in schools through movement. Its core aim is to improve children’s mental health, helping them become happier, healthier humans forever.
Dr Martin Yelling, Stormbreak founder, said,
"We've seen a rise in the number of children who need support for mental health and we know that movement and physical activity is such a good way to support children to develop sustainable skills and coping strategies to help them navigate the demands of growth into adult life.”
The focus of their work drew our attention because our day-to-day is centred on building high-performing and successful adult work cultures, where building the right environment can enable people to flourish - so we knew we could draw on our experience and expertise to add value to their cause.
It’s also been reciprocal as their research** shines a light on the importance of movement on wellbeing, encompassing stress levels, confidence, focus physical health and more, something we can take forward into our own work and research.
Some of Stormbreak’s core beliefs identify what it takes to develop an effective culture, no matter where that culture resides. It’s all about everyone playing their part with a shared responsibility, having clarity on your values, attitudes and beliefs and finally ensuring a whole school/whole organisation approach that will drive lasting change.
No matter what the cause, get the culture right and change will happen.
Mental health is becoming less stigmatised, more people are opening up and talking about it and we are very proud to be supporting a programme focused on equipping children with transferable skills and coping strategies to enable them to thrive now and in adulthood. The children of today are our leaders of the tomorrow and we should all support children through movement and engage them in positive mental health.
*Stormbreak CIO is a registered charity in England and Wales (1182771).
**The project has received support from Bournemouth University and the University of Winchester, who are underpinning the project through academic expertise and research, Public Health Dorset and creative agency Cubo.
For more information about Stormbreak, visit www.stormbreak.org.uk or email hello@stormbreak.org.uk
To watch Stormbreak Founder, Martin Yelling's latest interview visit, https://dgn.fish/stormbreak