About Whiskids
WHISkids offers children the opportunity to learn more about their emotional and physical health and life, and the choices they can make to keep well.
Whiskids Description
Why is it called WHISkids?
WHIS is the WORLD HEALTH INNOVATION SUMMIT. WHIS holds summits around the world and as part of it's model of exchanging and collaborating across health and care it provides programs in the host global communities to encourage and support the local health system. WHISkids is one of these programs. For more information please visit www. worldhealthinnovationsummit.com
WHISkids is currently available to be delivered in Cumbria and Nottinghamshire with a digital manual available for self delivery elsewhere.
So far in Cumbria we have run sessions with 1000 + primary-aged children focusing on emotional, rather than purely physical, wellbeing. We aim to help children understand their feelings, how to express them and where to go for support when they need it.
Gillene Sealby, who leads the project, said it is about helping them build up emotional resilience - a fundamental life skill that will help them to better cope with the challenges that come their way.
“WHIS Kids is about health and emotional wellbeing. It’s all about helping children to become more aware of themselves, " she said.
“We talk about how they are feeling, their emotions and how they can self-manage those. It helps to build up resilience and makes them aware of the support that’s around them, who is there from them. "
To start, youngsters design and make their own colourful My Way Code 'avacars' to represent themselves. Each day they place that car on a numbered road to show how they are feeling, with 1 being low and 10 being excellent.
Each session begins with a short yoga-based warm up session, followed by some group work. This looks at different emotions, how they make you feel, and how the children can deal with them. She urges children to think about warning signs of different emotions, such as anger, so they know how to recognise them. They then discuss support networks, and who children can turn to in different scenarios, such as at home or school. There are also some relaxation sessions and linked creative projects.
Development - the WHISkids manual
In order for as many children to benefit from this life enhancing programme we have developed a manual with all the information anyone would need to run the programme with groups of primary-aged children in their local area or school. Whether you are a facilitator of wellness programmes or work in education, you can now run the sessions yourself. Please contact us for more info.