“When its dark, look for stars” Young people on NCS in Rotherham launch project to spread positivity and mental health awareness
A young group of inspiring NCS Changemakers with Rotherham United Community Sports Trust have launched a project to spread positive thinking, mental health awareness and to raise money for Young Minds, a local mental health charity. The group set up a variety of different initiatives at Rotherham United’s game against Oxford United this month which was their dedicate NCS Matchday
The NCS Matchday celebrated the success of Rotherham’s NCS programme. NCS is the ultimate experience for young people aged 16-17, in which they are given the opportunity to make new friends, develop new skills and create new memories. NCS Changemakers compromise of 25 NCS graduates, who meet up regularly to make a real, positive impact in the community, as part of this, the Changemakers undertake a social action project, which aims to implement their quest for positive change.
For their social action project, the Rotherham teens came together and decided they wanted to raise awareness about mental health and provide information of how people can receive help if they need someone to talk to. The initiative is part of the ‘Impact’ project which is an ongoing project where young people have been designing and selling merchandise, to raise money for localised mental health groups in Rotherham.
The young people recognised that as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of young people suffered with bad mental health and ended up taking their own lives. Thus, the group were inspired to turn their passion into action.
We talked to Abbie Pearson, who was one of the NCS Changemakers involved. Abbie comments:
“We wanted to work with a mental health charity as it’s something that everyone has a connection to. Young Minds was important to us as it works specifically with our age group. Following the Coronavirus pandemic it is important for young people to be able to access support. NCS match day was targeting young people, so it seemed important to use this opportunity to spread positivity and share the message of what Young Minds do. As a group we agreed that we just wanted to offer support and put a smile on some people’s faces with our positive messages.”
The group utilised the busy attendance at Rotherham United’s Matchday, as they held a stall in front of the New York Stadium, containing a large amount of positive merchandise from the ongoing ‘Impact’ project. The merchandise held powerful messages such as, ‘When it’s dark, look for stars’ to encourage people to think positively during difficult times.
The Changemakers were also hands-on, as they ventured around the stadium with leaflets to reinforce the strong messages and buckets to raise money for Young Minds.
Julia, from Young Minds Charity had this to say about the project:
“We are always grateful of people fundraising and raising awareness in regards to Mental Health. There are many people out there who need someone to talk to but may not know where to find the help or feel too introverted to ask for it.”
“A club like Rotherham Utd can do wonders and reach a lot of people who might not usually come forward – they might have saved some lives just by being there with contact details. It’s great to see young people get involved and helping people, keep doing what you’re doing!”
Additionally, the young people also created an innovative wheel of fortune, which was designed with tasks to put a smile on people’s faces, give away freebies and encourage socialisation between people, in which the area at the front of the stadium become a hub of happiness for those taking part.
The Changemakers were also motivated to do some random acts of kindness and make young people happy, as they invited young people at random to take part in a half-time penalty challenge against Club Mascot, Miller Bear on the pitch, which for some young people was an opportunity of a lifetime.
NCS Project Manager, at Rotherham United Community Sports Trust, Carla Whitehead had this to say about the legacy of the project:
“All the money raised from the bucket collections are set to go towards Young Minds. Additionally, the money generated from selling the Impact positivity merchandise will also go towards volunteer mental health groups in Rotherham, to ensure they have the money and equipment they need to provide that much needed space and time to health those people who need the outlet.”
“In addition, the positive messages on the merchandise will leave a legacy in itself as the messages are designed to remind people to keep on going and be kind to each other.”
To find out more about NCS, please click here.
