Express yourself, boost your mood and win

 Somerset youngsters can have fun expressing themselves seven different ways over seven days in a boost to improve mental health - and be in with a chance to win a prize as part of Place2be’s Children’s Mental Health Week.

Somerset County Council has teamed up with ‘Young Somerset’ to launch the competition to win a wellbeing pack, which will run between 1-7 February.

We are challenging young people to come up with seven ways they can express themselves throughout the week as expressing how you feel is important for mental health.

This year’s theme for the awareness campaign is ‘Express Yourself’. Expressing yourself is about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through creativity. This could be through art, music, writing and poetry, dance and drama, photography and film, and doing activities that make you feel good.

To be in with a chance to win, all young people have to do is share their ideas on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and tag @youngsomerset in.

There are different themes for each day, allowing young people to explore how they would like to express themselves.

7 Ways to Creatively Express Yourself - This resource gives young people some creative ideas for each day fo the week to encourage them to explore how they express themselves.

Express Yourself Activity Booklet - This resource is designed for children and young people to fill out during the week. You can either print this activity book out or complete electronically. It includes activities and explores lots of different ways that you can express yourself.

Place2Be have some fantastic resources for Children's Mental Health Week. From assembly guides to training, they've got resources for all ages! Resources >> Take a look at this fantastic toolkit with lots of ideas and resources for children, parents and staff to get thinking during Children's Mental Health Week.  Express Yourself Toolkit >>

Resource for 5-11 year olds - This simple emotion and activity tracker is designed to help individual children to identify trigger points and positivity in their day-to-day life. Track My Feelings Resource >> It's Time to Talk Day on Thursday 4th February and this year's theme is 'The Power of Small'. A small conversation about mental health has the power to make a big difference. Find out more >>

Every Mind Matters: A Message for Parents, Children and Young People Davina McCall, Marvin Humes, Sean Fletcher, Katie Piper and Edith Bowman, read extracts from best-selling author Charlie Mackesy’s well-known book, "The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse" to help inspire parents, children and young people to speak more openly about their mental health and to ask for help when they need it. For mental health support and advice please visit: www.everymindmatters.co.uk

Kooth's "Don't Do It Alone" Campaign When it comes to mental health problems, you should never deal with it alone. Joined by some of the biggest social media stars, Kooth have created an uplifting and positive film to remind teenagers that they are not alone when dealing with their mental health. There is always someone there to talk to. The video will be released on Monday 1st February at the start of #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek and would love you to share it too. Find out more about the campaign >>

Encouraging children from a young age to express their feelings and emotions is so important. Talking Mental Health is an animation designed to help begin conversations about mental health in the classroom and beyond.