Stormbreak

Our mission at Stormbreak is to embed mentally healthy movement for every child, every day. We aim to improve children’s mental health through movement, equipping them with sustainable, transferable skills and coping strategies to thrive during the complex demands of growth into adult life. When the storm rages we teach children to find shelter and create light, calm and change through movement.

At Stormbreak we believe that:

• Children are happier and healthier when they move more
• Children and their trusted adults are happier and healthier when they interact together through movement
• Movement improves children’s wellbeing and provides vital opportunities for them to develop emotional and physical life skills.

At the core of this, we try and reduce the stigma around mental health by enabling everyday conversations whilst engaging in movement. We aim to encourage children to talk openly about their own and others’ emotions with trusted adults and their peers and to explore how movement can shape and support their mental health now and in the future.

What is a Stormbreak?

Each Stormbreak is a mentally healthy movement opportunity that is carefully and purposefully planned and focuses on one of our 5 core mental health concepts:

Resilience, Relationships, Self-care, Self-worth and Hope & Optimism.

Each Stormbreak allows for simple and inclusive movements through a range of movement experiences inside or outside, connecting with nature, free play movements, mindful movements, running movements and each one encourages discussion and communication about our emotions, feelings and wellbeing and highlights skills and strategies to help support us being mentally healthy and well. Try a Stormbreak now!

What we do

• We engage and educate schools on Stormbreak and the benefits of our Mentally Healthy Movement Programme.
• We foster trusted partnerships with school and partners.
• We help schools understand and embed movement for mental health every day for every child.
• We enable change by coaching school leaders, teachers and advocates to implement programmes effectively.
• We design a Stormbreak Programme based on our research and identify the measures of success to track progress and impact.
• We research and evaluate the current state of movement at the school with our Mentally Healthy Movement Healthcheck.
• We launch and deliver the Mentally Healthy Movement Programme within schools.
• We continuously review and improve the Mentally Healthy Movement Programme.
• We take time to reflect on the sustainability of the programme and award our schools with the Stormbreak accreditations.

In our Mentally Healthy Movement Programme we're striving:

For children

• Build resilience, overcome adversity, learn to face stress and pressure.
• Develop effective self-care, depression, anxiety and anger management skills.
• Develop optimism, focus, persistence and perseverance.
• Improve confidence, self-esteem, self-image and self-worth.
• Manage motivation and learn to face stress and pressure.
• Improve behaviour and reduce absenteeism.
• Improve physical health, happiness and hope.

For teachers

• Raise awareness, challenge and change perceptions of mentally healthy movement.
• Improve confidence and delivery for supporting mentally healthy movement.
• Develop a whole school approach and a sustainable cultural shift towards a climate for mentally healthy movement.

For the community

• Reduce referral rates to school-based and community mental health interventions
• Improve social capital, wider community engagement opportunities and family mental health.
• Create healthier, happier, families and communities.