Re: Grounded

Earlier in 2020 we produced ‘Grounded’- a collection of 11 short animations to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people excluded from mainstream school, participating in our Build programme.

Each 60-90 second animation explores 1 of 4 themes including Mindfulness, Relationships, Movement and Relaxation. Their vibrant colours, unique visual style and simple concepts offer opportunities to regulate stress and build relationships, in-line with our trauma-informed approach. 

 It became clear to us through the wider interest and positive response they received, that this work could make an impact across all of our programmes, and offer access to creative wellbeing activities for children and young people with special educational needs, English as an additional language, young people undergoing medical and mental health treatments in hospitals and those who are living with the impact of traumatic stress.

5 months later and we are pleased to share with you the next stage in this exciting body of work:

Translations:

We have translated the animations into the 4 languages most commonly spoken across our Pathways programme, which works with young people and communities impacted by displacement.

The languages include French, Pashto, Vietnamese and Arabic. Each language is accompanied by a set of comics to further increase their accessibility and ensure young people can learn the skills needed to maintain healthy relationships and self-regulation in times of stress and distress.

To view and download the full collection of animations and translated versions click here.

User Guide:

We've also created an accessible user guide which breaks down the animations using a comic book format alongside the full text of the animations in English.  Users can download and print this off for more detailed work, or to create a display within their setting.  Hopefully this format will support people to have a number of opportunities to further engage with the resources.

To view and download the User Guide in English, click here.

Therapeutic Guide:

We also worked to offer practitioners and carers the opportunity to engage with the deeper meanings and associations within wellbeing practice, through the creation of a therapeutic guide which directly addresses each animation. 

With this in mind we collaborated with psychotherapist Jocelyne Quennell to delve into realm of the symbolic and reflect upon the potential impact of the exercises on wellbeing. The resulting therapeutic guide enables practitioners to remain aware of the potentially complex and nuanced role of the animations in supporting mental health.

We hope that the guide will support embodied and relational professional practice with young people, and enable creativity, connection and wellbeing to flourish.

To download the Therapeutic Guide click here.

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We would love to hear your experiences and reflections on using these resources. We hope that they support you and the young people you encounter to remain connected and creative during times of stress and uncertainty.

With thanks to Xuân Anh, Leila Ghaddar, Benita Iyemba, Christopher Simpson, Habiba Begum, Jocelyne Quennell, Robin Lane-Roberts and Tunde James for your involvement in this exciting and important process.