Youth Mental Health Day - learn how to #BounceNotBreak

Fikaon 7 September 2020
Person gleefully jumping between two rocks

Today is Youth Mental Health Day, which is being celebrated UK-wide with the hashtag #BounceNotBreak.

Learning the mental skills and resilience it takes to bounce, not break, in the face of challenges is one of life’s most important lessons. So why don’t we learn how at school, college or university?

At Fika, we’re looking to change that - which is why we’re rolling out a Mental Fitness Curriculum across higher and further education - equipping students with the skills they need to thrive.

So what are the benefits of mental fitness? 

Smash your academic goals 

Improving your mental fitness isn’t just about resilience - it’s about developing the confidence, focus and motivation you need to do really, really well in your studies. 

Our Mental Fitness Curriculum is designed to go hand in hand with your coursework - helping you put the best of yourself into your work without burning out, and making sure you get the most out of it too.

Have better relationships

Connection is the first course in Fika’s curriculum, running throughout the month of October, and this skill comes first for a reason.

Not only do people with healthy loving relationships tend to live happier, longer lives - but the ability to connect with others is fundamental to our academic and career success. 

Learn these skills early, and you’ve learnt good skills for life. 

And of course, having meaningful connections with close others also makes us far more able to #BounceNotBreak when things get tough.

Become more employable

Communication skills. Teamwork. Work ethic. Problem-solving. Interpersonal skills.

A 2019 Fika study showed these are the top qualities employers look for when they hire graduates and entry-level joiners. 

Mental fitness is all about developing these skills - making you a brilliant hiring choice, whatever your career ambitions. Developing and honing these skills over time will also help you to #BounceNotBreak in the workplace.

99% of graduate employers said learning mental fitness skills as part of the curriculum would vastly improve students’ chances of career success - with 95% agreeing graduates are often lacking in these skills.

Be a better leader

An ability to identify and work to your strengths is the key to success, according to UK employers. 

Resilience is the second most important quality they chose in our survey - the ability to #BounceNotBreak when things get tough. 

Being aware of your weaknesses and finding colleagues who can support you in those areas is also fundamental to effective leadership. 

Along with empathy - research has shown empathy to be the top competence for good leadership, and one of the three strongest predictors of senior effectiveness. 

All these skills can be learned, and Fika’s Mental Fitness Curriculum is designed to equip you with all the skills you need to develop a compassionate, likeable yet effective leadership style.

Plan more effectively for the future

12% of final-year graduates report feeling unsure about what they want to do after university.

It’s not uncommon to feel unsure about where you want your career to go, but this doesn’t help with motivation or decision-making. 

In these instances, Fika can help you learn to visualise what you want your ‘future career self’ to look like, what you’ll do and how you’ll get there. 

Research shows this simple practice helps improve motivation, optimism for the future, life satisfaction, confidence and positive emotion, which is why we address it in Level 3 of our ‘Motivation’ course. 

To hear more about Fika’s Mental Fitness Curriculum, and how the 7 Skills of Mental Fitness can equip you to #BounceNotBreak, however tough the challenge, email [email protected] 

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Fikaon 7 September 2020