Happy Thanksgiving from Team Wardrobe Therapy to you and yours! We want to thank all of our clients and everyone who supports our small business and for our community that allows us to share our services with you each and every day!
We hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving spent with loved ones.
Every year Wardrobe Therapy selects a charity to donate 10% of our gift card proceeds. In light of the mental health crisis that our children are experiencing, we are partnering with Nationwide Children’s’ to support their
On Our Sleeves® campaign.
We had the opportunity to speak with Marti Bledsoe Post, the Executive Director of the On Our Sleeves® movement launched by Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Marti has an extensive background in marketing strategy, communications and business development. Marti is a passionate advocate for children and their mental health and is working on a national level to provide education and resources to families about mental health and helping to break the stigma. She is also a mom to two school-aged children. Here’s what we learned about the campaign:
Q: Tell us about the background and mission of the On Our Sleeves® campaign.
A: One in five kids are living with a mental illness and half of all lifetime mental illnesses start by age 14. Because kids don’t wear their thoughts on their sleeves, we don’t know what they are thinking and feeling. We knew we needed to give kids a voice, and give parents, educators and anyone with a child in their lives, resources to break stigmas and start conversations around mental health and wellness. That’s why On Our Sleeves® was created by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2018. We help all kids with their mental health and wellness as they grow up. On Our Sleeves® is committed to providing every community in the U.S. with free evidence-informed educational resources for breaking child mental health stigmas and educating families and advocates. Because we care about the 1 in 5 children with a mental illness and we care about the 4 in 5 children who also benefit from tools to help boost their mental health and wellness.
Q: What impact have you had to date and what are your goals for the future?
A: In just four years, we have distributed curricula and resources to all 50 states and almost 2 million classrooms. More than 3 million people have interacted with content on our website and social channels in the past year. In just 6 months, On Our Sleeves® has had over 4.5 million plays of social-emotional learning video series, The Moderators, created in partnership with GoNoodle. We have heard from more than 800 teachers, counselors, principals and home school families in 48 states requesting free kindness kits for their classrooms. We are also piloting a program where we send kits to teachers every month during the school year with mental wellness materials that they can use whenever it fits into their school schedule. Beyond schools, we continue to partner with organizations to get our materials to children in camps, after school programs, community groups. We have a goal of getting more materials to pediatricians to support their education around this topic and to provide materials to their patient families.
Q: If parents are concerned about their children’s mental health, what advice do you have for them?
A: Talking to children about their thoughts, feelings and experiences helps their healthy growth and development. When you ask open ended questions about their day, you can learn about concerns they may have, help problem solve, and build their confidence for facing future difficulties. The more you talk, the easier it is when difficult topics come up. See onoursleeves.org/conversation for more help getting started. We have ideas for keeping the conversation going, helping kids problem solve and talking about mental health concerns.
Q: How can someone get involved with the On Our Sleeves® campaign?
A: There are a number of ways to get involved! You can like and follow On Our Sleeves® on social media @OnOurSleeves @OnOurSleevesOffical for Instagram. You can share the children’s mental health content posted there and use the #OnOurSleeves hashtag to help spread awareness and education. You can advocate for children’s mental health by talking to kids schools, sports organizations, after school programs – anywhere there are kids.
For more information and expert advice see onoursleeves.org/conversation for more help getting started. They have ideas for keeping the conversation going, helping kids problem solve and talking about mental health concerns. To give to the On Our Sleeves cause visit OnOurSleeves.org/give and help them provide even more free resources to communities and classrooms across the U.S. Find out more at https://www.onoursleeves.org/take-action/advocacy-101.
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