Whilst mental health problems can affect us at any stage of our lives, there is a higher risk of, and rapid increase in, mental health difficulties during early adolescence (10-14 years). A universal approach that focuses on early intervention and prevention could provide a sustainable solution for promoting mental health and greater resilience in adolescents. Our proposed solution is a new and exciting initiative called the ‘Resilience Rucksack’. This project is inspired by the baby box in Scotland, in which every new born baby receives a box comprising essential items to support a healthy start in life. Akin to the baby box, our vision is that young people transitioning from primary to secondary school will receive a rucksack containing items that research has identified as beneficial for adolescent’s mental health and wellbeing.

The initial phase of the project involved co-producing and co-designing wellbeing items/tools with young people and their relevant representatives (school teachers/staff, parents/carers) using a robust research evidence approach.

Following the initial design and pilot stages, we then launched a series of Resilience Fairs in schools across Oxfordshire and Berkshire in which researchers and mental health professionals set up booths illustrating evidence-based approaches for building resilience and maintaining wellbeing. Each booth represented each of the central themes of this research, Sleep, Movement, Friendship, and Self-Compassion  and contained wellbeing tools that young people were able to choose for their personal resilience rucksack.

Ultimately, we hope the Resilience Rucksack initiative will provide a unique opportunity to engage young people in dialogue surrounding mental health, as well as promoting greater mental health literacy and awareness. This project has connected the University of Reading with a wider community of people working to provide mental health interventions. Read more about the Resilience Community here.

Click on the front cover below to see a colourful flip-book of our journey from the start

Click here to find out about our latest events and news!

The Wellbeing Tools

In a series of co-production workshops with young people, we  identified wellbeing tools that will best help support the four core themes.

Full list of the RR wellbeing tools:

Sleep Well, Being – our colourful graphic comic – supporting the ‘healthy sleep practices’ theme

Somni – The RR Sleep & Daylight song – our upbeat pop song – supporting the ‘healthy sleep practices’ theme. Click here to listen now on Spotify!

The Journal kit – supporting the ‘Physical activity’ theme

The Friendship Tree – supporting the ‘Social support & relationships’ theme

The RR Playing Cards – supporting the ‘Social support & relationships’ theme

The Stress Ball – supporting the Self-compassion theme

The Self Compassion Journal wellbeing tool– supporting the Self-compassion theme

 Stepping forward: our stop-motion animation! – managing the Year 6-7 transition

The RR Book List–  list of fiction and non-fiction books from Edinburgh International Book Festival exploring themes of Wellbeing and Resilience.

Customising the wellbeing tools – making the tools your own! – children can choose from a range of stickers and keychains to customise their own tools and resilience rucksack.

We also ran a ‘Design the Resilience Rucksack competition’, click here to find out more and view the winning design!

Meet our Core Team:

Prof. Stella Chan, Resilience Rucksack PI/Lead, Charlie Waller Chair in Evidence-based Psychological Treatment, University of Reading 
Dr Clea Desebrock, Resilience Rucksack lead researcher & project manager, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Reading
Agnes Tait, Resilience Rucksack operations manager and fair coordinator, Research Assistant, University of Reading
Dr Asnea Tariq, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Reading
Toyosi Alake, Postgraduate Research Placement student, University of Reading
Nevena Harris, Honorary research assistant, University of Reading

 

Megan Devereux, research assistant, University of Reading
and…

Emma Tupitsa, Research Assistant, University of Reading

Suzanna Rose, Honorary Professor, University of Reading; Board Advisor, Charlie Waller Trust

 

You can find more details and a presentation about the project below: