Can you complete the Lancashire Mind Wellbeing Selfie Challenge?

The Lancashire Mind Wellbeing Selfie Challenge is here!

Starting on Monday 24th August, we are aiming for over 1,000 children, young people and their families from across the county to take part in our 10 day challenge!

As always, Lancashire Mind want you to stay safe and so request that all those taking part in the Wellbeing Selfie Challenge are aware of their surroundings at all times and do not attempt to take any selfies in any locations or situations which could result in injury or harm to themselves or others. Please put your safety and the safety of all others first.

Every day during the challenge a different theme will be announced on social media alongside a tip about wellbeing that relates to that theme.

For example, you may be asked to post a selfie full of colour. Life is bright and full of colours, but sometimes poor mental health and wellbeing makes the colours harder to see. It’s ok if some days the world does not seem as bright as others. If you have days like this talk to someone who can help.

All you need to do is capture a selfie in that location and share it using the hashtag #LancashireMindWellbeing

Holly Mannion the Community Development Lead at Lancashire Mind said: “It’s a fun and creative way to get out and about during the summer holidays whilst also learning more about mental health and wellbeing.

“Children and young people have been affected by this pandemic and the restrictions it’s placed on everyone, just as much as adults. Their voice can often get lost and they may find it difficult understanding how they’re feeling or how to cope with those feelings.

“We wanted to offer help and advice and thought as most young people are used to taking selfies, we’d speak to them in a way that they understand.”

Currently 1 in 8 young people experience a mental health condition and over 50 per cent of mental health conditions develop before the age of 14.

We work extensively with children and young people in schools and community groups across Lancashire but since March we have been unable to hold face to face sessions. To combat this, we have worked hard to adapt many of our services and have been able to offer them virtually or via downloads.

Holly continued:

“This challenge is just another way we can continue to help children, young people and their families.

“We talk about the Five Ways to Wellbeing to many groups, as a way to help with mental health and wellbeing. This selfie challenge is very much an extension of that teaching.”

The 'Five Ways to Wellbeing' are evidence-based actions, developed by the New Economics Foundation, that can make a positive difference to your mental health if carried out on a regular basis.

We are also asking people who take part to make a donation to enable us to continue to do our work and support children and young people across Lancashire. Like many charities, we have seen a drop in our income since the outbreak of the Coronavirus with most of our fundraising activities cancelled.

Fundraising lead Emma Bateson said:

“Lancashire Mind are a local charity, separate to the national Mind organisation, and we rely heavily on donations and fundraising events from our supporters to enable us to continue.

“We’ve had to change a lot of our fundraising efforts and become a bit more creative - the Wellbeing Selfie Challenge is just one way we’re doing that. There is a digital info pack with props for your selfies and a 'Five Ways to Wellbeing' poster. Once you have donated and completed the challenge you can request your Wellbeing Selfie Challenge certificate and badge!"

Click here for your digital info pack!

Download the info pack and then follow us on social media from the 24th August for your daily challenges!

A huge thank you to our sponsor- EPSL Educational Printing

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank EPSL Educational Printing for their generous donation in sponsoring the challenge! Thank you so much!

EPSL Educational Printing has been providing schools with quality exercise books and educational resources for 45 years. And they said that they were 'proud to support Lancashire Mind'.

Check them out at eprint.co.uk or on Twitter @EPSLUK

Social Media:

To help raise awareness of mental health, Lancashire Mind may share some of the photos taken during this challenge own their social media accounts. But we will not share any photos without the consent of those who took them. We will contact individuals directly via social media should we wish to ask permission to use one of their photos.