Children's Mental Health Week 2021

Children's Mental Health Week (1-7 February) is a national annual campaign founded by leading children's mental health charity Place2Be. The week aims to shine a spotlight on the importance of children's mental health and to foster a greater understanding and awareness of the issue by encouraging children, young people, their families and school communities to discuss and reflect on their emotions and wellbeing.

The week was conceived by - and is managed - entirely in-house by Place2Be's Comms and Marketing team. In 2021, the event took on a greater significance in the context of a global pandemic, which has created anxiety and fear for many children. The need for support has never been greater: According to NHS Digital, 1 in 6 children now has a mental health disorder, up from 1 in 9 in 2017.

The theme of self-expression struck a chord with children and schools keen to embrace a positive and creative outlet during lockdown.

Highlights of the week include a virtual assembly featuring Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker; HRH The Duchess of Cambridge's video message of support; Place2Be and Young Voices' charity single 'Lovely Day'; mentions in the House of Commons; and Lemn Sissay delivering a keynote at our conference.

2021's Week is our most successful to date, with downloads of our resources up 174%, over 3,000 pieces of media coverage, and over 107k engagements with our content on social. We also gained 10k new followers and raised over £80k, a four-fold increase on 2020.