Council Works with Polish Community to Deliver Wellbeing Programme

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has been running a four week ‘Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing’ programme for pupils of the Polish Supplementary School (PSU), which meets at St Joseph’s High School, Newry.

The programme, which began on Saturday 18 January 2020, was devised using a community development approach to tackle health inequalities within minority communities, building capacity to help pupils improve their own health and wellbeing. 

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Charlie Casey said, “It is wonderful to see local organisations working in partnership with the Polish Supplementary School in the promotion of a very important message for young people in our community. 

“To support the core values of the PSU, the Council has printed the ‘Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing’ information leaflets in Polish language. I hope that the pupils taking part in this project put what they learn into practice in their daily lives to take care of their mental wellbeing. The Council is also committed to promoting ‘Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing’ within all our communities.”

The programme’s main focus is to raise awareness of mental health through five interactive workshops based on the steps from the Public Health Agency’s ‘Take 5 steps to Wellbeing’ initiative: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Leaning and Give. It also uses methods derived from evidence-based interventions that positively impact the health and wellbeing amongst black and minority ethnic (BME) groups.

The Council partnered with several other organisations to deliver the messages behind each of the ‘Take 5 Steps’ workshops, including the Education Authority’s FLARE project, Action Mental Health, PSNI, PCSP and Clanyre Group’s Everybody Active.