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Company Chameleon is working with #BeeWell on their exciting new programme, Movement for Mind, an initiative exploring how movement can support young people waiting for further mental health support.
Movement for Mind is delivered over a six-week period by Company Chameleon and 42nd Street in secondary schools across Greater Manchester. 42nd Street is a charity that offers creative and rights-based approaches to help young people with their mental health and emotional wellbeing. The programme will work with more than 150 young people across 10 secondary schools over three years. Dance and movement are being used as a tool to understand and explore mental health.
The programme is particularly aimed at young people accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), young people on waiting lists and those at risk of being referred to CAMHS. The programme works closely with schools to recruit participants they think will benefit the most. The aim is to increase resilience and enable participants to learn about their relationship with themselves, identify their own needs and discover new ways of working towards improved mental health.
What we know from #BeeWell Greater Manchester data
#BeeWell data tells us that 1 in 5 young people are disengaged from participating in arts, culture and entertainment activities (#BeeWell Briefing 4). We also know that young people who experience socio-economic deprivation are less likely to do any of these activities.
Young people who engage in a wide range of activities, including physical activities, gaming, arts and culture, were found to have better wellbeing than their peers.
#BeeWell data also tells us that only 1 in 3 young people take part in at least one hour of physical activity per day, and further analysis from our team suggests that young people who do more activity also have higher levels of wellbeing (#BeeWell Brief: Physical Activity).
Celebrating the impact of the programme so far
Company Chameleon have already worked with three schools in Tameside, Salford and Stockport to deliver the programme, and have reached out to more #BeeWell schools to invite them to take part in future years.
Reflecting on their experience in the programme Faye Henn, Pupil Intervention Manager at Moorside High School said…
“The project in my view was a huge success with regards to engagement and a positive experience for the pupils. The staff running the group were approachable, personable, warm, and highly invested. This translated to high levels of engagement from the pupils who presented as joyful and relaxed. Some pupils excelled past their usual level of engagement and as the key adult for a lot of the pupils, the positive impact of this group was very evident and wonderful to see. There were clear benefits socially and emotionally for the pupils involved and it was a pleasure to watch pupils who have previously been reluctant to engage, fully engaged in the group. The group also included pupils with introverted personality types, and they too were fully engaged.”
Feedback from one young person who has taken part in Movement for Mind said, “I’ve felt low since last year, and I struggle to communicate it. I talked to a therapist, but it wasn’t useful, but this (Movement for Mind) is helping”.
#BeeWell supporting Movement for Mind
#BeeWell makes survey data publicly available at a neighbourhood level in order to drive action across society in response to what young people say. #BeeWell data helps our partners make the case for investment in programmes and services that benefit young people and meet well-evidenced need. Company Chameleon worked with us to use findings from the #BeeWell dataset to support their application for funding from The Baring Foundation.
The bid highlighted that #BeeWell and Company Chameleon would work together on ensuring the programme supports #BeeWell schools. Schools in Greater Manchester taking part in the #BeeWell programme have had the opportunity to sign up to Movement for Mind and explore how it could help them respond to their school-level survey data.
Reflecting on the programme so far, Sam Broadbent, Learning & Participation Manager at Company Chameleon said,
“Company Chameleon have been exploring how dance can support mental health and wellbeing for several years but our experience of delivering Movement for Mind has surpassed our expectations of what can be achieved. In six short weeks, we have witnessed the young people involved grow in confidence and self-belief, finding new connections, friendships and support. The project has offered the young people involved the space and time to discuss their mental health and the chance to explore their thoughts and feelings through movement and dance. Dance as an art form offers a non-verbal way of communicating, using our bodies to express what our words sometimes cannot. It has been truly wonderful to support the young people involved to find this new way of communicating and to witness them using dance as an outlet to share and express. #BeeWell have been an invaluable partner for this project, linking us with schools that we have never worked with before. The #BeeWell survey ensures we are reaching schools that will greatly benefit from the project and the data offers a baseline to allow us to measure the project’s impact.”
Interested? Company Chameleon are looking for schools in Oldham and Bolton to host Movement for Mind for 2025-26. Register your school’s interest in Movement for Mind here.
