Press Release                                                      

20 JANUARY 2020

Schools celebrate mental health awards and help ‘kick off’ Northamptonshire Mental Health Awareness Day with the Cobblers 

Schools from across Northamptonshire, who have demonstrated their commitment to positive mental health and wellbeing, were at Northampton Town Football Club on Saturday to receive Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS) awards. Leader of Northamptonshire County Council Cllr Matt Golby, Northampton Town Footballers Harry Smith & Shaun McWilliams, Mike Simons, from the Northamptonshire Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS) Programme & Educational Psychology Service and  Victoria Leitner from Public Health Northamptonshire joined schools to celebrate just some of the great work going on across the county.

The following schools were presented with awards: Avenue Infant (Bronze); Earls Barton Primary School (Bronze); Rockingham Primary (Bronze); Billingbrook School (Silver);  Brackley Junior School (Silver), Grange Primary Academy, Kettering (Silver); Headlands Primary (Silver); Helmdon Primary (Silver); Kettering Buccleuch Academy (Silver); Newbottle & Charlton Primary School (Silver); Pattishall CE Primary (Silver); South End Junior (Silver);  Woodford Halse Primary (Silver Renewal); and Kingsthorpe Village Primary (Gold).

The presentation also provided an opportunity for the Talk out Loud programme to launch a countdown to Northamptonshire Mental Health Awareness Day, an annual County-wide event to help raise awareness amongst young people about mental health and mental health stigma. It is set to take place on Friday 14 February 2020 and is part of the Public Health Northamptonshire Talk Out Loud Programme; Northamptonshire schools will be taking part in mental health awareness day by getting involved in activities to raise awareness of mental health stigma in lots of interesting, fun and inclusive ways. 

Cllr Matt Golby said “We are delighted to present TaMHS awards to the Northamptonshire schools here today, and recognise their commitment to positive mental health and well-being. We would like to say thank you to Northampton Town Football Club for their continued commitment to encouraging the conversation about mental health.