FeelsFM, the world’s first emoji powered jukebox, has been created to help young people in Scotland talk about how they’re feeling, after new research revealed only a quarter would tell someone if they were struggling to cope.
See Me, the national programme to end mental health discrimination, surveyed 1455 young people aged 12-26 on mental health. They found that only 26% of young people would tell someone if they were finding it difficult to cope, compared to 67% who would tell someone if they were feeling physically unwell.
To help young people to speak about how they are feeling See Me have launched FeelsFM.co.uk.
The online emoji powered jukebox, created as part of the Year of Young People, is designed to help young people express their feelings, use music as a positive coping strategy, and find new ways to talk about mental health stigma.
Alongside the online platform, young people have also helped See Me put together a FeelsFM Activity which brings FeelsFM to life so it can be used to support young people to have conversations about mental health.
See Me are looking for organisations who engage with young people to run Feels FM activities by downloading a pack from https://www.seemescotland.org/young-people/resources/campaigns/run-your-feels-fm-activity/. The pack is great for youth, community, or school groups, and we will give you everything you need! All you need to do is visit their website and put your order in and they’ll pop a pack in the post for you.
Part of the discussion involves asking young people what they would do to tackle stigma and discrimination. See Me will then look at all the ideas, and the one they think will work best will be given a £1000 grant to make the idea a reality. The deadline to submit your idea is October 26th.
Glasgow Kelvin MSP, Sandra White commented:
“The ever growing cultural conversation that we are having on mental health is vital to the well-being of so many of my constituents. Indeed, regardless of background or profession every single person needs to acknowledge the importance of their own mental health and in turn how they can positively affect those around them.
“As such I am delighted to support See Me’s new campaign aimed at increasing awareness amongst younger people – a group in our society who are faced with a variety of pressures on a daily basis. In the Year of Young People this is therefore a particularly appropriate campaign and one that I hope is successful, far and wide.
“With See Me kicking off this campaign at the Barrowland Ballroom, with the Scottish Government’s new Minister for Mental Health, Claire Haughey MSP, it again reiterates the seriousness with which our society is now viewing mental health and the commitment this Scottish Government is making to ensure that this conversation continues within all of our communities.”
Share your Feels FM fun and see what other folk are up to with the hashtags #FeelsFM and #YoYP2018.
As Convener of the Cross Party Group on Older People, Age and Ageing it was a pleasure to attend the 75th anniversary celebrations of Age Scotland in the Parliament.
To mark Hospice Care Week (8-14 October) Hospice UK held an exhibition in the Scottish Parliament giving members the opportunity to chat with representatives about their work and the work of their local hospices.
The Festival of Politics returns to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 10 October 2018 for more debate, music and film.
It’s hard to believe that Show Racism the Red Card campaign started 15 years ago. In those years it has gone from strength to strength garnering support from across the footballing family.
Look at these wonderful animals who had a trip to the Parliament this week to highlight the valuable contribution they are making to people’s lives across Scotland.
The name Srebrenica has become synonymous with those dark days in July 1995 when, in the first ever United Nations declared safe area, thousands of men and boys were systematically murdered and buried in mass graves. The victims, predominantly Muslim, were selected for death on the basis of their identity. This was the worst atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.
As the Convener of the CPG on Older People, Age and Ageing I was more than happy to promote the 2018 UN International Day of Older Person’s by submitting the following motion in Parliament and this was presented to representatives from the Scottish Pensioners Forum at their demonstration outside the Parliament this week:
In an unprecedented move, Glasgow City Council repeated the offer of free road closures to residents, local groups and community-based organisations who wanted to turn their local streets into temporary playgrounds for local children.
Out and about in the constituency at the beginning of the week and I popped in to Rebel Rebel to discuss a few problems they are having but also to find out about their training opportunities.