Forth Valley students create 'Little Book of Positivity' to help lockdown wellbeing

Hope Newton, Kristie Mcintosh, Jade Harley, Chloe Cassidy, Danielle Coyle, and Kirsty Kelly are all studying towards NC and HNC Working With Communities, and decided to create the book as restrictions mean that they cannot attend work placements.

With classes being moved online, and some of the students feeling isolated and generally down, they created the book to help others in a similar situation.

It includes tips and coping mechanisms on how to look after your mental health and wellbeing, alongside fun activities that let you be creative and shut off from the virtual world.

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The students also talk about their own experiences and the steps that make them feel better, with the aim to help people feel positive, motivated, and supported.

Hope Newton, who is studying towards her HNC, said: “We created the book to help people as part of our coursework, as we are unable to get out in the community to work placements, which is a requirement for completing the course.

"We had the idea to help with students mental health and wellbeing during lockdown as classes have been moved online and, for some people, it can be quite a struggle to do them virtually.

"There has been lots of feedback from people who have found it helpful - not just students but people from other walks of life as well."

Hope adds that it is hard to be a student during the pandemic, and that most people will face some sort of mental health challenge throughout their life.

"It is already hard being a student without the pandemic to worry about,” she said. “I struggled with mental health challenges when I was younger, so I want to give people the help that I didn’t receive.

"There are more people struggling through the second lockdown than the first - that’s why we have such a passion for the book and came together as a group to make it.”

For more information about The Little Book of Positivity, please visit: shorturl.at/inpEP

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