Six on board mental health project at uni
AWARD-WINNING mental health programme Tackling the Blues has appointed six new recruits to grow activities at a time when mental health has never been more important.
Delivered by Edge Hill University, Everton in the Community and Tate Liverpool, the programme promotes mental health in education through sports, physical activity and the arts.
Tackling the Blues is delivered by students and staff across Edge Hill’s Department of Sport and Physical Activity and Faculty of Education and, since its launch in 2015, has engaged with almost 1,000 young people across Merseyside and West Lancashire.
Funding for the new recruits follows on from a £527,000 funding award from the Office for Students and Research England earlier this year in recognition of the vital impact it has on the student experience. The programme received the award for demonstrating the benefits it brings to students, graduates and external partners through involvement in knowledge exchange activities.
Emily McCurrie has joined Edge
Hill’s Faculty of Education as the Partnership Development and Engagement Manager and will spend the first two years of her post leading the operational activity of Tackling the Blues. Having studied health psychology and worked as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist in the NHS, Emily will focus on developing partnership engagement with schools and education providers to create opportunities for student employability, work experience and enrichment activities.
Tate Liverpool has appointed Dr Emma Curd and Phil McClure as Tackling the Blues Coordinators to oversee the development and delivery of the new arts strand and they will work to encourage young people to use art as a tool to explore, understand and aid their emotional health and wellbeing.
Emma is an artist, facilitator and researcher who uses creative and participatory methods to create spaces for discussion, collaboration and coproduction. She has facilitated workshops and learning programmes in galleries, museums, libraries and higher education institutions, while Phil was previously the Lead for Participation
and Democracy at Halton Youth Provision, where he supported young people dealing with issues around substance abuse, hidden harm and emotional health and wellbeing. In addition to this, he led on LGBTQ+ youth work in the borough.
Everton in the Community has recruited James Ratcliffe as a new Tackling the Blues Co-ordinator to help develop the programme’s sports and physical activity strand. James previously completed his MSc in Sport, Physical Activity and Mental Health at Edge Hill, where he gained experience as a lead mentor on Tackling the Blues.
Edge Hill has recruited two research assistants, Rachel Wilcock and Aston Monro, responsible for measuring the impact of the programme on children and young people and evaluating how student mentors benefit from knowledge exchange opportunities.
Rachel joins following three years in another research assistant role at Edge Hill, where she conducted programme evaluations for community-based programmes that address mental health and suicide
Clockwise from top left: new recruits Aston Monro, Rachel Wilcock, Phil McClure, Emily McCurrie and James Ratcliffe concerns in the North West.
Aston has recently graduated from Edge Hill with an MSc in Sport, Physical Activity and Mental Health, during which time he received a bursary from the UEFA Foundation to work alongside Tackling the Blues as a mentor and researcher.
Professor of Sport and Physical Activity, Andy Smith, and Dr Helen O’Keeffe, from the Faculty of Education, both lead on the project at Edge Hill.
Prof Smith said: “It is fantastic to be expanding our team as we reach such a significant point in the programme’s journey.
“In such uncertain times for the world, we are looking forward to extending our reach and influence to help even more children and young people in the region to promote mental, physical and emotional literacy and improve their self-esteem and confidence, with the help of our student community.
Michael Salla, Everton in the Community Director of Health and Sport, said: “Building on the success of the programme since its launch in 2015, this addition of high-quality staff will allow us to better address the increasing prevalence of poor mental health among children and young people.”
Dr Deborah Riding, Programme Manager, Children & Young People at Tate Liverpool, said: “Working in partnership with Edge Hill University and Everton in the Community in this way gives us, collectively, an exciting opportunity to embed a new way for children and young people with their schools and communities to engage with mental health.’’ Edge Hill University West Lancashire College