Suffolk Mind's Sammy the Sea Squirt Storybook

Suffolk Mind has come together with several other mental health charities across the nation as part of the #mentalhealthmatters campaign. Our aim is to make Suffolk the best place in the world for talking about and taking care of mental health.  

Suffolk Mind needs your help... 

Our Head of Education, Ezra Hewing has written a fun, psychologically informed storybook, showing the benefits of exercise on mental health. It’s called Sammy the Sea Squirt, and we want to give it to every Reception aged child (four-to-five-year-olds) in Suffolk. We want to teach children at a young age how to look after their mental health, which is extremely important, especially at the moment.  

Nobody wants their child to experience poor mental or physical health. But what can parents and carers do to protect their child? How can they support them to grow up to be positive and emotionally resilient adults?

Did you know that 50% of young people in England do not meet recommended weekly levels of physical activity? Did you also know that this has a direct link on your child’s mental health?

How can the story of Sammy the Sea Squirt help?

Our story is based around the character Sammy the Sea Squirt – they learn that moving helps with memory and emotions, while meeting other ocean friends along the way. 

Sammy is an inspiring character who moves to keep their brain healthy. Sammy helps children understand the importance of being active at an early age, in an age-appropriate and engaging way. The story also equips parents and carers with a way to encourage their children to make positive changes to their level of movement to help maintain good mental health. 

We want Sammy to encourage children and families to get more physically active, play more and help their brains develop.

Figures show that 35% of children and young people said their mental health has got worse during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reading Sammy the Sea Squirt will make the link between movement and mental health a lifelong habit. We want to ensure children learn the skills to look after their mental health from a young age, to help them become more resilient as they get into adulthood. 

The book contains an information page for parents and carers to further understand the link between movement and mental health, embedding this learning within families.

How can you help us?

We are appealing to all parents, grandparents, businesses, schools, and everyone who has an interest in our children’s future, to help us fund the publication of our book, Sammy the Sea Squirt, so we can give it to every four-to-five-year-old in our county. The story has been written, the characters have been created by a local children’s illustrator, Emma Graham, and Public Health Suffolk are ready to distribute it to Suffolk school children. We now need your support and the help of our local community to be able to publish more than 8,000 copies.

Support our Crowdfunding appeal today as part of Crowdfunder’s national #MentalHealthMatters campaign, which aims to raise much needed funds for mental health charities and organisations across the UK.  

Each £10 that you donate facilitates 2 books being delivered to children across Suffolk schools. 

Each £100 that you donate enables a pack of 20 books to be delivered to children in Suffolk schools

PLUS! We would also like to give something back to you too, so check out our rewards offered on this page and get something special by way of thanks for your support. Please note: Digital rewards will be sent by email within 2 weeks of your donation, however physical items and training will be sent or booked by the later date specified in each reward description. Please ensure that you check your bulk mail box for rewards! Pre-orders of signed books will be fulfilled by 1/12/21, subject to our crowdfunding project being a success.

You can also follow Sammy on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 

Sammy will provide you with exercise ideas, advice on how to look after the mental health of yourself and your children, and exciting updates from our campaign.

Anyone can help …

Would your organisation like to contribute to the Sammy Sea Squirt campaign? Various rewards are available including the opportunity for you or your organisation to be acknowledged in the book itself as a key supporter. 

Get your school involved…

We would love for your school to be involved in our Sammy the Sea Squirt crowdfunding appeal. If you donate a minimum of £150, your school can have a special ‘Sammy assembly’ helping your children to make the link between movement and mental health and extra copies of the Sammy the Sea Squirt book for your library. Your school will also be mentioned in our acknowledgments in the published book.

Here are some ideas to help your Sammy fundraising:

• Dress-up days wearing the colours of the rainbow
• A sponsored movement afternoon, for example: a sponsored wiggle, run or dance
• An art competition – who can draw Sammy the Sea Squirt meeting his ocean friends?

Thank you

Thank you for your support of this project and helping us to be able to provide every 4-5 year old in Reception year at school in Suffolk a copy of Sammy the Sea Squirt, Suffolk Mind's unique storybook.

For more information or to contact the project team directly, please email [email protected]