A project to support young people’s wellbeing by discovering what makes them happy has resulted in a new e-zine.

30 organisations and 620 young people in Somerset have taken part in the “What Makes You Happy?” community project.

The year-long project, funded by Somerset Council Public Health in collaboration with Spark Somerset, aimed to discover what makes children and young people happy, and how this can support their mental health and general wellbeing. An e-zine has now been launched to showcase the findings.

Organised by Somerset Council Engagement and Participation Team, over 30 positive activity sessions were hosted by 30 different organisations across the county, including primary schools and youth clubs. These ranged from creative and play based activities such as arts and crafts to food, sports, and outdoor activities. 620 children and young people of various ages took part and 85% of the sessions included young people with SEND.

Children and young people were surveyed after the activities, which saw their happiness increase by 48% when compared to the baseline set before participating.  Young people said they enjoyed working and playing with other young people, being creative, blowing off steam, being outdoors, as well as the support, attention, and positive reinforcement that the activities provided.

Participants concluded that they would like more sports and games, clubs, safe and supervised activities, outdoors and forest school activities, cooking activities and opportunities to spend time with their friends.

The e-zine can be viewed and downloaded here: https://tinyurl.com/SomersetWMYH23