NAVIGATE CHALLENGE | SEIZE OPPORTUNITY | THRIVE TOGETHER
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
WHO WE ARE
PROJECT:TALK CIC is community interest company founded in 2020 by Bristol medical students who set out to change society’s approach to young people’s mental health. We pioneer Mental Fitness (MF) through mutual aid supports led by young people.
Our proactive approach makes mental fitness more accessible for young adults, by empowering them with tools and resources to develop support networks which enable thriving.
OUR MISSION
Pioneering Mental Fitness - led by and for young people
OUR VISION
To build a future in which young people have the tools and networks so they can support themselves and others to grow mental fitness.
OUR VALUES
Passionate, Pioneering, Proactive, Purposeful, Partnership.
Passionate – in our belief to promote mental fitness, working collaboratively with team of volunteers who bring their own personal passions to address society’s approach to youth mental health.
Pioneering – in our innovative focus to equip young people and future professionals with the mental fitness tools to support themselves and others in their community.
Pro-active – in our approach to invest in positive mental fitness that can both prevent increases in young people’s health needs and maximise their growth opportunities.
Purposeful – in our focus on achieving the greatest social impact by increasing supports for young people to lead their own mental health solutions, whether through education institutions, in training for professions such as doctors, or in other community settings.
Partnership – we always seek to work with others to achieve the most comprehensive, accessible support for young people, from local and national partner organisations to our network of peer-led mental fitness ambassadors and other community supporters.
OUR APPROACH
PROJECT:TALK provide a pro-active, community focused approach to mental fitness.
This involves:
Community Support – we give young adults in education the opportunity to become MF Ambassadors, equipping them with the tools to: a) support themselves; and b) volunteer to provide peer-support to others.
Mental Fitness training – we train young adults in education to apply MF tools in their community as well as in their future vocation as doctors or other professional roles that have potential to impact on the mental fitness of others.
Lasting change – we campaign to embed Mental Fitness as a consistent approach in the culture of educational institutions, supporting young people aged 16+ in their transition from school to university and into the world of work.
MENTAL FITNESS
‘Fundamental to mental fitness are the interactions between a community and the individuals within.’
According to an article in the International Journal of Wellbeing, mental fitness can be defined as “the modifiable capacity to utilise resources and skills to flexibly adapt to challenges or advantages, enabling thriving”. The key advantages of this concept are the fact that it is free from negative connotations associated with mental health and illness, understood by the wider community in a similar way to physical fitness and can be modified and improved.
A high degree of mental fitness is associated with a reserve of skills and resources that can be readily utilised to navigate challenges and seize opportunity.
At PROJECT:TALK, we believe that the interactions between a community and the individuals within are fundamental. It is not purely located in the individual and can be gained or lost depending on a variety of internal and external factors. If we define mental fitness as the individual, we risk ignoring a potential lack of support structure and response surrounding them.
The key to effective interaction between individuals is our ability to communicate. However, this isn’t always easy. We therefore build our activities around facilitating supportive, effective communication about what we all, as human beings, go through.
What are the benefits?
We propose that optimisation of mental fitness leads to:
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Highly effective communities with increased productivity.
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A greater sense of hope, enablement, and drive for change.
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Individuals feeling more at ease and in a better position to seize opportunity.
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Increased coping capacity, meaning higher tolerance of uncertainty and better response to challenges.
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Whether you're interested in volunteering, donating, working, or learning with us, please fill out the contact form or drop us a line on the email address below.
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