Children's mental health topics like dealing with grief or the death of a parent, that allows us to connect with organisations, but also with parents and young children.” Through Sesame Street Communities, the not-for-profit organisation offers a central hub of online reference material around all manner of topics, among them is children’s mental health, anxiety and depression. The company is also looking to extend its outreach programme across the US, and eventually the world, by reaching out to communities and caregivers within them, be they doctors, teachers, services aligned with children’s wellbeing, and offer them the tools to engage with children on numerous topics. The initiative - a relatively new launch for the company - is currently active in eight communities in the US. Its aim is to be across 35 communities in the next five years. “This is just so aligned with our mission which is in order for children to have resiliency and well-being, you need to look at all areas of a child’s development, from cognitive to health, physical and emotional health,” says Betancourt. “Around the world, children are facing so many challenges and trauma that we need to address that.” Back with the Beano, and it’s clear that the studio behind this iconic piece of British literature is working towards a similar vision as Blanco details the extent of its partnership with Young Minds.
“We have worked with our panel of Trendspotters, our group of nine to 12 year olds who share the latest crazes, trends and opinions from the playground, to guide us in the creation of content for Beano.com, which promotes YoungMinds’ messaging in Beano’s mischievous way. We have used our insight into what kids love and engage
with to create videos to support YoungMinds campaigns such as Rubber Chicken’s First Day and Rant Attack - Back to School. These support YoungMinds’ Find Your Feet campaign which highlights potentially difficult transition times, such as moving up to secondary school.” Blanco concludes by telling ToyNews that “this is a long-term partnership with YoungMinds,” and that there will “definitely be further content and promotion.” It all begs the question, is this just the beginning of a movement of wellness and mental health focused projects in the children’s entertainment and play space? “I think we are going to continue to see therapy-based, mental health type products emerging into the toy market, it just seems such an obvious space to fill,” suggests Williamson. “We are talking about mental and emotional well-being more than ever, and with children experiencing more and more issues and challenges, the more we can reach them through the ways they communicate, i.e. play, the more we can do to keep that conversation and support going.” Cutrist Comics’ Tottman, concludes: “I sincerely hope this is just the start. More needs to be done in the mental health awareness space for young people. There are resources and programmes out there for schools and children, but many of them are technical, wordy and overly detailed. “I hope to see more of these conversations open up through toys, games, cartoons, entertainment, because that is how you will engage that younger audience far better than sitting them down and talking at them.” October 2018 | toy news | 37