Agenda item

(Director of Communities) to consider the attached report.

The Community Health and Wellbeing Manager, Gill Wallis, introduced the report on the MiLife project. She noted that at a 2015 youth conference their priority concern was mental health issues. Young people reported high levels of stress and anxiety as a result of a range of issues including; exam pressure, bullying, family relationship breakdown, negative body image and low self-esteem.

Working with staff from the Council`s Community, Health & Wellbeing Team, Youth Councillors formulated and co-designed a project, which they named MiLife, to address the issue of mental health via a programme to be delivered in schools. As the design of the project gathered pace, wider partners were brought on board to provide professional advice and facilitate delivery. These partners included; adolescent mental health staff from the NHS North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT), school representatives and the Red Balloon Family Foundation organisation.

The objective of the MiLife project was to support children and young people to help them understand mental health, dispel stigma, and to equip them with tools to develop personal resilience. It would also help them find information to wider support services.

Pupils from every state secondary school in the district participate in an interactive workshop facilitated by professional youth workers from the Red Balloon Family Foundation, which is a local third sector organisation based in the district. Workshops are also supported by the Council`s Community, Health & Wellbeing staff and representatives from the NHS.

A key element of the MiLife Project was its interactive website (www.milife.org.uk) which is hosted by the Red Balloon Family Foundation. Research undertaken by the Youth Council identified a plethora of information available on line but raised concerns around the validity of much of this. Consequently, a dedicated local website was developed as part of the MiLife Project which supported young people, parents and teachers.

Additionally, teachers were provided with Ofsted appropriate teaching resources in order to deliver sessions within lessons over the academic year.

Since the roll out in 2016, over 6,000 Epping Forest young people had taken part in the Adolescent MiLife Programme to date. The programme was continuously evaluated using a range of methods including pupil, teacher and professional agency feedback.

Following the overwhelming success of the Adolescent MiLife Programme, requests for an age appropriate version of the workshop for the district`s primary schools began to be received from local teachers, parents and wider agencies.

Evaluation of the Primary MiLife Project has shown it to be a resounding success. To date 6,500 pupils had participated in the programme. Overall, over four in five children have said they had learned something new about emotions through taking part in the day and over half reported that they were more likely to talk to a trusted adult about their emotional state having experienced the presentations and taken part in the workshops. 

Parents are invited to be proactively involved in the Primary MiLife initiative. Information about the programme was shared through letters, Parent Mail and face to face parents sessions before and after school. 

Reception class teachers and Early Years providers have requested that pilot programmes be delivered in sample settings within the district.

The Committee noted that MiLife has been announced as a finalist at this year’s National Crime-Beat Awards on 18 April 2018, having been nominated by the Essex High Sheriff, Mr Simon Hall MBE.

Councillor Knight said that this was a fantastic project and more like this were needed. Councillor Butler commented that this was important work that they were doing and that teenage years were the most stressful and difficult times and could lead to serious psychological problems.

Councillor Helen Kane noted that she had been involved with this project from the start and thanked members for their support. She also thanked officers for their hard work in getting this up and running and making it such a success.

RESOLVED:

That the Communities Select Committee noted the success of the MiLife initiative, which is an innovative programme focusing on positive mental health and emotional wellbeing for children and young people in the district.