CREATIVE WAYS TO SPREAD POSITIVITY FROM HOME

Many of us have been spending extensive time at home rather than at school or in our workplace for the last several months. We have seen many young people continue to pursue social change and take small steps to support their friends during this time. At The Diana Award, we want to encourage everyone to continue tackling bullying behaviour from home and recognise the potential positive uses of the internet and social media.

We hope that the ideas that follow will help you to spread kindness and support others not only during this period but also in the future. We believe that young people can change the world and that limitations such as the current lockdown restrictions do not prevent us from taking action and making change.

Our 2020-2021 National Anti-Bullying Youth Board have been working hard during lockdown to tackle bullying behaviour and support The Diana Award’s programmes. These young people created impressive creative applications for the role, using mediums including poetry, song writing and video. Many of these applications were made at home after schools closed across the UK.

We asked the Youth Board to share how they are creatively continuing to tackle bullying behaviour from home, looking after their own wellbeing and supporting their friends:

PAIGE

To spread positivity during lockdown, I have been promoting mental health coping mechanisms through my social media stories as well as having daily catch ups with people that I know will benefit from social interaction. By doing this, I have ensured that nobody is feeling isolated and making sure that everyone has a friend to talk to.

ADAM

I have been setting myself challenges, for example expanding my knowledge in the Māori language, which I have been doing through the usage of a word a day email. I have also been encouraging my friends, one of them who lives in Australia, by spreading positivity and keeping them in my thoughts as well as socialising with them via Zoom.

JUDE

I’m trying new things and engaging in stuff I’ve never tried before to set myself a new challenge, stop feeling bored and take my mind off being home alone, so I have memories of positives from the recent times, for example learning new tunes on guitar or talking to new people through mutual friends.

ROSE

I’ve been trying the best I can to keep in touch with my friends and share positive things on both my social media accounts and on a smaller scale to people in my neighbourhood.  I’ve also really focused on taking care of myself (mind and body) and so I’ve been doing yoga in the morning to clear my head and also stay active.  Listening to music has also greatly helped and I’m always looking for new music.  ‘Times Like These’ was really inspirational for me at this time.

THEO

I’ve been setting myself little challenges and goals that I can complete, for example I wanted to learn how to skateboard and so I went out on my skateboard and achieved that. I’ve also been hosting quizzes and games for me and my friends to make sure that everyone is doing okay. I’ve also been trying to spread some positivity through my Instagram and snapchat stories.

FLORA

To spread positivity I’ve been sending funny videos and pictures to my friends and family to make them smile. Also, every week I send out a news report type video of the things my sisters and I have got up that week (making jelly, practising jump rope etc). Also, I’ve been Zoom calling my friends regularly so we can cook together. Last week we made pizza! Also, my sister and I have started a club during lockdown to help prevent bullying behaviour. It’s a ‘chat and chill club’ where anyone throughout the school including staff can come along to chat about anything they like.

KIMBERLEY

Whenever I find something funny, or a good quote, I will share it and let people know that if they need any help, they can contact me and stay in touch with friends. I also make videos to try and make people happy and keep them entertained during difficult times.

LIAM

I’m sharing my positivity through friends and family through text messages or Facetimes with them. Also trying new ways of making sure that everyone is keeping on track and meeting what they needed to do throughout the day. During lockdown, I’m also making sure that I am keeping on track and any spare time that I have, I am expanding my knowledge on new Media skills such as Video Editing and Photography.

We hope that you can take some inspiration from the Youth Board’s creative ideas. Remember that acts of kindness you perceive to be small can have a huge impact and that young people can change the world.

For more ideas and activities to tackle bullying behaviour from home, check out our Resource Centre.

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