YouthAction has recognised the need for new approaches to developing young people's mental health, and has developed a new mental health model entitled LIFEMAPS to address this need.
LIFEMAPS clearly demonstrates how youth work approaches can build the mental health of young people. It clearly states that mental wellbeing is not uncovered or discovered, it is built through actions, skills and attitudes, and fostered through positive relationships.
 |
| LIFEMAPS is your map for the journey to positive mental wellbeing! |
LIFEMAPS is an acronym for 8 interlinked concepts that describe a full approach to developing positive mental health;
Learning - Accepting that failure is a necessary part of learning rather than a negative consequence, which enables us to find the courage try new things, build resilience and approach challenges without the fear of failure.
Intrinsic Motivation - Finding activities that we really enjoy and are interested in, and have an internal motivation to pursue because they brings us a sense of personal reward and pride, and contribute positively to our mental wellbeing.
Flow - Finding activities that fully immerse and engross us, causing us to lose ourselves in the moment, which can give us a break from negative emotions and build positive feelings of achievement in their place.
Emotions - Balancing out the negative emotions with positive ones; not by forcing positivity, but by being open to new experiences, people and ideas to help us build a wider range of positive emotions like joy, inspiration, hope, awe and serenity.
Mindfulness - Promoting a positive outlook by taking time to notice small, everyday moments that bring us pleasure in order to bring balance to our minds and counteract the negative moments.
Accomplishments - Building self esteem through accomplishing personal goals, and realising that life isn't about winning or losing, but more about learning and growing, and that small milestones pave the way to big successes.
Purpose - Finding a sense of meaning in the world outside yourself by finding ways to help others, through small acts of kindness to your friends and family, volunteering or joining a cause you are passionate about.
Social Connections - Building our sense of belonging and community by building strong connections with others through work, school, family and friends. This satisfies our desire to be valued, cherished and listened to, which is critical to mental health.
These 8 elements are interlinked and we can find many activities that will satisfy several of these elements, for example learning to play a musical instrument will satisfy Learning, Intrinsic Motivation, Flow and Accomplishments. Asking an old friend to meet for coffee and catch up would satisfy Emotions, Purpose and Social Connections. Going for a walk in the park and stopping to smell the flowers satisfies Emotions and Mindfulness.
Lifemaps is easily tailored to any individual, as some people may have plenty of Social Connections but no sense of Purpose, and others might have a lot of Intrinsic Motivation but struggle with Learning. All it takes is a knowledge of yourself and the areas of your life you want to work on, and then finding activities and behaviours you can practice to help build those elements.
Starting this Wednesday, we will be writing a weekly post exploring each element in more detail and suggest activities that you can try to help satisfy the needs of each element. We really hope you find them helpful!
Please follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with our posts and upcoming events, and see you on Wednesday for ways to improve your mental wellbeing through Learning!
No comments:
Post a Comment