Joel M, local magician and TikTok star with a social media following of 8 million, paired with AWARE – the depression charity for Northern Ireland, to make mental health a priority for primary school pupils. He became the ambassador for the charity’s ‘Express Yourself – a children’s mental health poetry competition’ campaign that was launched for children’s mental health week in February this year.
The competition saw over 200 schools enter and the AWARE communication team was overwhelmed by the incredible talent of our countries children.
Leah Catterson, communication officer for AWARE, says:
“It was their wisdom on a topic we weren’t sure they would fully understand at that age, that got us. As a team, we were brought to tears by the children’s creativity, honesty, and vulnerability of their worries and fears they have had over the past year or so. The poems read beautifully and it was extremely hard to choose the top ten let alone a winner.”
Joel M and the communications team at AWARE finally chose their winner of Ellie Kitson, age 10 from Carniny Primary School.
As advertised, the main prize of the competition (along with Amazon vouchers and free mindfulness courses run by AWARE) was that Joel M was scheduled to make an appearance at Ellie’s school, perform some magic tricks, meet the other students and talk to them about his experience of mental health and how to make sure that social media does not have a negative impact in that area of their lives.
“I have a lot of followers on social media now, and am paid to post regularly, and yet I am here to tell you that it is not real life! As you journey into your teenage years, please make sure that you take time every day to turn off your phone and prioritise the real relationships around you. Because they are the ones that matter, they are real life! Don’t pay attention to negative comments or become obsessed with the good, it is the people that love you that deserve that place to speak into your life. Make sure the health of your mind is your priority, and if you are not feeling ok sometimes that is totally fine. We all have days like that. Just make sure you tell someone you can trust so that they can be there for you.” – Joel M.
The performance was incredible and the kids were blown away by Joel’s insatiable talent and heart-warming approach to performance.
“He was the perfect ambassador for this campaign. He is someone the kids already look up to and to hear him talk about how important mental health is for your entire wellbeing was something we hope the kids will take on board as a priority before they move into their teenage years.
“The main hope we had for this campaign was that we could encourage a young generation that it is ok to not always feel great and that they aren’t alone, but to just always know to reach out to those who love them and the services available. Because of the incredible poems we received, we decided to turn the poems into a book, which is beautifully illustrated and now sits in school libraries across our country. This will go on to encourage the generations below that they are not alone in how they think or feel and has so much wisdom on how to manage those thoughts and feelings.”
The book ‘Express yourself – a book of poems by children like you’ will be available for purchase on AWARE’s socials within the coming weeks. So search ‘AWARE NI’ and keep an eye out for those.
The campaign was so popular that the charity has promised to consider running it annually. Teachers and principals watch out for the competition reopening ahead of Children’s Mental Health Week 2022!
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