Mental health website receives ‘big’ honour

A TEAM of Tyrone students has been announced as one of the national award winners at The B!G Idea Showcase.

Sarah’s Strength won the mental health award for St Patrick’s College, Dungannon for the website ‘It Takes Strength’, which would support university students’ mental health and wellbeing by offering relevant information and peer-to-peer advice on topics such as financial worries or time management issues.

They will now progress to a B!G Idea accelerator in September, where they can develop their idea further with industry experts.

The Big Idea is delivered through the Leaving Cert Applied (LCA) and Transition Year (TY) programmes, as well as an expanded pilot Youthreach and Community Training Centre (CTC) programme. It was delivered across 22 counties this year, with a successful pilot programme trialled in the North.

Students were tasked with working through the four Ds of the creative process – discover, define, develop and deliver – focusing on solutions for issues they identified as major stressors in their lives. These were mental health, climate change, hidden poverty, displaced people, and diversity and inclusion, all aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

With the help of hundreds of Big Idea mentors from a range of sectors, they can develop a digital experience, product, service, space or place, or a tech solution to tackle that issue.

Since the programme launched in 2021, it has already reached 6,500 learners, supported by over 750 industry mentors globally to help unlock valuable industry knowledge to help build the confidence and problem-solving skills of young people.

The winners, along with a selection of Big Ideas from the programme will go on to take part in a Big Idea accelerator in September. The Big Exhibition which includes every project submitted this year is now live at thebigidea.ie, where schools and mentors can also sign up for the next term.