As we have said in previous reviews Mental health resources for kids and young people are a key part of any youth or kids workers toolkit.  It’s really important we help children and young people to be emotionally literate and to understand and be able to articulate how they feel.  Especially in the current climate with all that children have been through with the recent pandemic, these resources are incredibly useful.

Like me? is a four-session programme helping 8 to 11s explore issues of self-respect, self-esteem and self-worth. Like me? aims to help children value themselves and others around them.

Like me? is produced by Scripture Union England and Wales and forms part of our ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing’ range of resources. This is the SU outline:

By putting in place foundations of worth, value and significance, Like me? tries to counter the long-term negative effects of cultural pressures in the following areas:

• social media
• body boundaries
• healthy relationships
• sexting and pornography*

Although we recognise that not all 8 to 11s experience these pressures in the same way, it is likely that all children will, at some point, be affected by these issues.

Like me? can be used in a church, community or school context. We recommend that sessions are delivered in groups of around ten children. If you plan to deliver Like me? in a school context, you may find it helpful to divide classes into smaller groups and run each session several times.

The four Like me? sessions are structured as follows:

Do I like me? Exploring self-worth and self-respect.

Are they like me? Exploring body boundaries, social media, sexting and pornography.*

Do they like me? Exploring self-esteem and healthy relationships.

Does God like me? Exploring the difference Jesus can make to self-respect, self-esteem and self-worth and how the big story of Christianity can help us to understand that we are all special, precious and important

*Like me? sensitively and appropriately opens up discussion around challenging but important themes. It does not directly introduce sexting, pornography or other similar themes to children, rather it tries to put healthy boundaries and values in place before children encounter these challenges.

Within the Like me? pack you will find information on getting additional support around mental health and wellbeing as well as a list of key concepts to keep in mind when exploring these issues with children. We strongly recommend that the session leader takes time to thoroughly read these pages before delivering this material. This resource is free, all you need is a log in for SU resources which is also free!