The goal of The Shine Project is to support young people in developing and maintaining good physical and mental health, providing a firm foundation with which to achieve a successful and happy future. We do this through the delivery of our early intervention physical and mental wellbeing courses in small groups of up to 12 young people aged 11-14.
The Shine Course is designed for those young people who identify as female and covers areas in self-acceptance, flaws of the media, healthy relationships, positive communication, respect, bullying, management of social media, healthy eating, the benefits of exercise, management of strong emotions and identifying skills, talents, and aspirations. Practical activities include self-care to role play, arts and crafts, mindfulness, and exercise classes. All activities have been carefully selected to encourage the students to build friendships, embed the knowledge gained in discussion times, help the students engage in activities promoting their physical and mental health and build healthy coping mechanisms developing their emotional resilience.
“Shine has helped me a lot with the way I feel about myself. It has made a difference to the way I see myself. I found it helpful how much I could relate to the other Student’s in the group” - Shine participant 2023
The Thrive Initiative is designed for those young people who identify as male and covers areas in self-acceptance and identifying healthy masculinity, understanding mental health, gaming and social media usage, healthy relationships, positive communication, respect (including building positive attitudes to women), managing strong emotions, bullying, risks associated with addictive behaviours, the benefits of exercise as well as identifying skills, talents, and aspirations. As with the Shine Course - practical activities are included which help support and embed the topics covered during the session.
“I liked being able to open up and get help” - Thrive participant 2023
Our most recent statistics for The Shine Course show an increase of 28.5% in confidence and 26% in feeling good about themselves and 16% increase in feeling excited about their future. After just one year of delivery Thrive statistics show a 22% increase in feeling excited about their future, 18% increase in managing problems well and 16% increase in happiness.
We are so pleased to receive funding from The Pixel Fund, enabling us to deliver more courses to more young people over this academic year.