Beyond Words tackles children’s mental health crisis with Radio 4 Appeal

“Feelings groups is, well, there’s no way to explain, but it’s like a big family that’s aways there for you. They helped me get through it all. It helps with our feelings and mental wellbeing. It is a safe place.” L. H., Year 6

It’s hard to learn when you’re hurting inside. Beyond Words, a national charity for visual and emotional literacy, launches its Radio 4 Appeal this Easter Sunday to raise £25,000 to address the children’s mental health crisis currently gripping the UK.

The pioneering charity creates word-free stories about real life, encouraging readers to add their own words. Pictures are often better than words to tell stories about relationships, especially when things are going wrong.

The books are used within Feelings Groups, a powerful new initiative that provides peer-group support to give children and young people a safe place to talk about their feelings, helping emotional healing to take place.

The pictures encourage children to use their own words and lived experience to explain what they think is happening.

Over time, the children start to speak about their own lives and not the characters. They begin to relate the stories to themselves. The children develop the emotional vocabulary to express how they feel. These groups are a safe place where children who have suffered trauma learn they are not alone. They are able to talk about their fears, worries and confusions without judgement, in an empathetic, encouraging environment.

Feelings Groups are already making a huge difference in South Yorkshire. Now the charity wants to bring this success to the rest of the country. It costs about £2,000 to help one school start a Feelings Group, or about £200 to help a child to join one at their school.  

Marie Grant, Mental Health and Bereavement Support Worker, creator of Feelings Groups and presenter of the appeal, said: “I started Feelings Group where I was teaching to enable children to talk about their feelings in a safe environment. The group has had an amazing impact on the children’s mental health and education. Now I train and support other people to run Feelings Groups.”

Donations can be made to the Appeal by searching online for BBC Radio 4 Appeal or visiting their website. For more information about Beyond Words and Feelings Groups, visit their website.

Three new books launched at House of Lords event

Beyond Words is excited to announce that they have launched three brand new picture books at an event at the House of Lords on 21 March 2023. The books, Lucy Goes Riding, When the War Came and Max Goes for a Check-Up, are the latest in the Books Beyond Words picture book series edited by Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins.

All three books have no words and are entirely composed of pictures that can be read in an individual or a group setting. They cover topics ranging from what children can expect from a visit to their GP, to a look at the war in Ukraine and the lives of refugees, to riding horses. They are linked by the common thread of relationships, showing families and friends coming together to support each other.

When the War Came is an expansion of Beyond Words’ previous short resource on the war in Ukraine. Continuing their work with Polish artist Lucyna Talejko-Kwiatkowska, they have produced a full-length picture story about a family from Ukraine who is forced to flee their home. The book is aimed at helping those fleeing unimaginable circumstances to begin to tell their own stories and talk about their feelings. It may also be useful to help build empathy and understanding amongst children and adults in countries welcoming refugees. As the story has no words, it can cross language barriers and be used in a wide variety of contexts. This book is dedicated to the people of Ukraine.

Max Goes for a Check-Up is the latest Beyond Words book aimed at children and young people. Going to the doctor can be worrying. For children going for the first time or who are shy or nervous about the experience, it can be hard to talk about their thoughts and feelings. This book shows Max and his mum going to the doctor and explains what happens to them there. Feelings, information and consent are all explained.

Lucy Goes Riding is a brand new book all about the joy of shared activities and making friends. It shows Lucy trying out horse riding for the first time, making new friendships and strengthening old ones. This story was developed in memory of our colleague and friend Carrie Dunton, who died in 2021. The importance of friendships and horses were just two of the many things that mattered to Carrie. We miss you Carrie and are sure this short story will give pleasure to many people.

All three books are currently available in paperback format from Beyond Words, with eBook versions to follow shortly. Guidance on how to use wordless picture stories is included for anyone unfamiliar with their practical application.

Beyond Words co-founder Nigel wins three awards at special evening

On Friday 2 December Beyond Words gathered together with friends for an extra-special evening to celebrate the achievements of author, co-founder and constant collaborator Nigel Hollins.

The evening was organised around Dimensions UK’s Learning Disability and Autism Leaders List, which Nigel was nominated as a Leader for in the category of Work and Education for his work with Beyond Words. We gathered to watch the live streamed announcement of the winners – and to recognise Nigel ourselves with our own special award.

To celebrate Nigel’s achievements over the years, and the achievements of everyone who has worked to make our charity so special, we created the Beyond Words Lifetime Achievement Award. Alicia Wood, our CEO, presented the inaugural award to Nigel during the gathering at City Lit.

But that wasn’t all. City Lit surprised Nigel with their very own award for his work and achievements with them, with Principal Mark Malcolmson presenting him with an Outstanding Contribution Award.

It was a wonderful evening of well-deserved recognition for Nigel. Thank you to everyone who came along and made the event so special.

Nigel Hollins nominated for prestigious award

Our very own author Nigel Hollins has been named a Learning Disability and Autism Leaders’ List 2022 Finalist in recognition of his outstanding achievements in their Work and Education category.

We nominated Nigel for the award for all his work for Beyond Words over the years. With our Founder, Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins, he helped lay the foundations for visual literacy to be recognised as the powerful tool for understanding and wellbeing it is.

Nigel has been part of so many exciting projects at Beyond Words, even co-authoring our popular book The Drama Group alongside actor Hugh Grant. He has provided his experience and expertise to many of our books, initiatives and resources, including running his own book club near his home in Surrey.

We are delighted that he has been nominated for this prestigious award and look forward to the award ceremony where the winners will be announced on Friday 2nd December.

New grant will create 30 new book clubs

Beyond Words is excited to announce that we have received a new grant that will enable us to bring our life-changing book clubs to even more people in South London. 

Our book clubs are at the heart of why our charity exists. Not only do they develop peoples’ visual literacy and help build understanding, they also provide a place for people to build community. In them, people with learning disabilities or different communications needs come together to share stories from their own lives, make friends and socialise as well as discuss the news of the day.

Thanks to a new grant from City Bridge Trust we now have funding to expand the reach of our book clubs ever further, providing training, books and support for anyone who wants to make a difference to loneliness and emotional wellbeing in their area. This generous grant will enable us to create 30 new clubs in the London boroughs of Islington, Haringey, Ealing, Greenwich, Lewisham.

Alicia Wood, CEO of Beyond Words, said: “Stories are the absolute foundation of the way people talk to each other. We know the difference our book clubs and word-free picture stories make, helping people to recognise themselves in characters and stories and relate their own lives to them. Everyone deserves a space to make friends, share the issues affecting their lives and talk to each other.”

Book clubs can be held nearly anywhere that is a quiet, comfortable space with a ring of chairs. Could you help provide a space or facilitate a book club? Do you wish you had something similar in your area? Get in touch with our Community Manager Lucy Alexander to find out more about how you can get involved.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to the City Bridge Trust for their generosity. Beyond Words can only exist to do our life-changing work thanks to grants like this. We know it will make a difference.

Beyond Words Christmas cards now available

We are thrilled to announce that we are launching our first ever set of Christmas cards, just in time for the festive season.

This year our small charity has been going from strength to strength, launching two books, a free resource, setting up new book clubs across the UK and returning to the Mental Wealth Festival. Now we are taking it to the next level by creating something we’ve never tried before: brand new, Beyond Words illustrated cards for the holiday season.

There are four designs from seasoned Beyond Words artist Beth Webb and one from new artist Cassie Herschel-Shorland. The cards feature festive scenes including a snowball fight, some holiday baking, a first Christmas, a play and even some carolling. The pictures are all-new, exclusive to these cards, and feature some of our favourite Beyond Words characters as well as some new ones.

You can purchase one card for £3.50 or all five for just £10. All proceeds will go towards our charity being able to continue our vital work, including creating more books, free resources, book clubs and help for schools.

Head here to purchase yours.

Beyond Words celebrates Mental Wealth Festival with three events

We were delighted to join our partners at City Lit for this year’s Mental Wealth Festival. The Festival is the first physical one since the start of the pandemic, representing a wonderful opportunity to meet old friends and introduce new ones to the power of pictures.

Beyond Words hosted three events throughout the week, beginning with a fascinating roundtable discussion hosted by our Founder Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins and City Lit Principal Mark Malcolmson. The talk was headed Caring for Mental Wealth and explored how parents and carers of children and adults can help develop mental wealth in the people they care about.

With the UK currently in a mental health crisis and with growing stresses for families, it is imperative to find ways of supporting parents and carers to build their own resilience and strategies for better mental health. Better mental health services in local communities are part of this, but how families, schools, employers, and communities respond to children with mental health issues is also key. Our panel were asked to reflect on how parents and carers can support better mental wealth.

Later in the week on Thursday 13 October we had the opportunity to introduce a whole new range of people to the incredible positive effects visual literacy can bring. We hosted a live panel-style book club themed around the power of pictures. A panel including our Founder Sheila, City Lit Principal Mark, self-advocate and Beyond Words author Julie Anderson, creator of Feelings Groups Marie Grant and Beyond Words School Mentor Andrew Browne, were joined by an audience of nearly 40 people to read an extract from our book A Refugee’s Story. It was a moving session, with audience members joining to share their own feelings, stories and emotions as we read the story page by page together.

Finally, our team hosted an afternoon book club in the same style as our community clubs, demonstrating how they work in practice as well as the impact our pictures have. Reading through books together page by page, we were joined by over 20 people and hosted four reading groups. One of our attendees said that they “enjoyed thinking about what makes us happy” while reading Feeling Cross and Sorting it Out.

We’d like to thank our partners in the Mental Wealth Festival City Lit for a wonderful week of thoughtful sessions and events about improving mental wealth, as well as everyone who attended our events over the course of the week and joined us to discuss mental wealth and the power of pictures. Further thanks to our other Mental Wealth Festival partners the National Gallery, the Royal Opera House, MAD World Summit, Thrive LDN, NHS South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust, Frazzled Café and 64 Million Artists.

If you attended one of our sessions and would like to hear more about our work, please email our Communications Manager Emily Magdij to sign up for our mailing list or learn more about our book clubs and schools work.

Join us at the Mental Wealth Festival 2022

We are delighted to be once again partnering with our friends at City Lit to host the Mental Wealth Festival. Launching on World Mental Health Day 2022, this year’s Festival examines the theme of time, exploring how we can best use it and dedicate significant parts of our lives to the things that keep us well.

The Mental Wealth Festival takes place from 10-14 October and will be offering a series of free panel discussions on topics like art, creativity, our own discussion about the power of pictures, neurodiversity and much more.

We will be hosting three events throughout the week, including a unique opportunity to watch one of our book clubs in action. Book tickets using the links below for your chance to explore the power of pictures and how visual literacy can make a huge difference to our mental health.

Programme of events

Monday 10 October

Caring for Mental Health

Invite only

Time: 6pm – 7.30pm

Location: House of Lords

Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins chairs this important roundtable exploring how parents and carers of children and adults can help develop mental wealth in the people they care for. Mark Malcolmson, CEO of City Lit, joins the panel.

Thursday 13 October

The Power of Pictures – Live Book Club

Free to attend

Time: 10.30am - 12pm

Location: Cultureplex, City Lit

Join our panellists for a live Beyond Words book club, exploring what visual literacy is and how pictures can provoke sharing, stories and feelings. While our panel goes through a word-free picture book, our audience will be encouraged to watch and share their own insights, emotions and stories. Led by Beyond Words Founder Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins and Mark Malcomson, City Lit Principal. Book now.

Exploring Visual Literacy – Book Club

Free to attend

Time: 2pm - 3pm

Location: Mezzanine, City Lit

Join Beyond Words’ afternoon book clubs to explore the magic of pictures for yourself. Beyond Words staff and self-advocates will lead on a series of small book clubs developing visual literacy, empathy and understanding of each other through reading their picture stories. Book now.

City Lit will be running a series of free talks and £5 taster sessions for a range of activities and talks focusing on mental health in an unequal world. Explore the Mental Wealth Festival’s offering on their website.

Short bereavement resource now available

"The Queen dying has reminded me of people I have lost," - Author and trainer Nigel Hollins.

We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and offer our heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family.

When someone dies, particularly someone who means something to so many, people can struggle to communicate about their feelings. Deaths can also trigger feelings of our own losses and griefs, making us want to talk or think about the other people we have lost in our lives.

We have produced a free short set of edited pictures from our longer book When Someone Dies to help people start conversations and process emotions about the death of the queen.

Download the .PDF and please do share it widely with individuals or organisations it may help.

"This story is about me" - A Refugee's Story launches

Beyond Words, the UK’s charity for visual literacy and emotional wellbeing, has released the latest in its series of evidence-based, co-created picture resources, A Refugee’s Story. The book, which follows the perilous journey of two brothers from their war-torn home country to safety, is the full-length update to the short draft version that was published during the crisis in Afghanistan in 2021.

A Refugee’s Story, which has no words and is entirely composed of pictures that can be ‘read’ in a group or individual setting, has already had a profound impact on the asylum seeker and refugee groups who have trialled it. Reading the story has provoked tears and joy – from moments of laughter as people identify with confusion over a Pot Noodle to emotional disclosures of ongoing struggles with mental health.

“There were moments in the pictures that just clutch your heart. Especially where the man was going in the van, because I remembered my time when I was taken to a place where I wasn’t sure where I’m going and what’s happening.” |“Most of the story I can relate to. It’s quite close to my heart.” | “It’s a true story. All of us here have seen it and have felt it and have gone through it ourselves. That’s why we feel so connected. We feel like it’s our story being told.” – Refugee women sharing their experiences after reading the book.

One refugee in a group brought together by Rochdale Council said: “This story is about me,”, another group reported: “There was lots of discussion: talk about their own families, children, people they met and people they lost. Help was sought for several families following the session.” The book was identified by several groups and service providers as a key factor in helping refugees begin to talk about their experiences, meaning they  have been referred to ongoing support services they would otherwise not have been identified as needing.

Authored by poet and child psychoanalyst and psychotherapist Dr Valerie Sinason and Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins, with contributions from Pakistani poet and St Augustine’s and Sisters United member Hina Gillani and award-winning children’s author Elizabeth Laird and illustrated by Mike Nicholson, A Refugee’s Story has been carefully crafted to invoke the struggles, hopes and feelings of displaced peoples as they leave their homes and settle into a new life elsewhere.

UNHCR statistics from mid-2021 show over 130,000 refugees currently in the UK, with another 83,000 pending asylum applications and nearly 4,000 stateless persons. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, it is vitally important that we have the resources to support often-traumatised people to begin to recognise and process their stories. Picture-based resources are interpretive and accessible to everyone, whatever language they speak, with each picture meaning something different and personal to the person reading it. They can also be used in schools to educate children and build empathy about the experiences and struggles of refugees and asylum seekers.

The book is also directly aimed at local organisations and interpreters working with disabled refugees. Being forced to flee your home and leave behind everything you know is terrifying and confusing. For someone with learning disabilities or autism the situation is amplified beyond comprehension. Our word-free A Refugee’s Story will facilitate more effective 2 way communication.

Lead author Dr Valerie Sinason said: “Almost  every  country in the world is built from the courage and resilience of centuries of refugees and the devastating hurdles they have faced . Daniel Defoe powerfully illustrated this in his satire on the true-born Englishman . Children and adults who have fled terror, death and starvation  in the hope of safety , peace and love deserve to have their narrative expressed and contained in our culture. As the grandchild of immigrants I wish this book had been available for them when they arrived in the UK.”

Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins, co-author and founder of Beyond Words, said: “Millions of people become refugees every year with one in seven being disabled children or adults. Many refugees and asylum seekers will have no words to describe their traumatic experiences and memories, even in their own language; let alone in the language of the strange new country they find themselves in. Word-free stories can be particularly helpful for many people in refugee communities because they are not language-dependent.”

A shortened version of A Refugee’s Story will be made available for free download for charities and aid organisations, alongside When the War Came, a short resource produced following the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022.  

A Refugee’s Story is available in paperback and ebook format from Beyond Words. Guidance on how to use word-free picture stories is included for anyone unfamiliar with their practical application.