Sesame Street’s Elmo supports Children’s Mental Health Week

Sesame Street, this week launched a new video to mark Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week…

Sesame Workshop, the global impact nonprofit behind Sesame Street, have created the video to mark Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week. In Celebrate The Day, Sesame Street‘s Elmo calls musician, author and friend YolanDa Brown to talk about his ‘best day ever’ and the two share a mindfulness moment — celebrating themselves, others and what makes them happy.

Whit Higgins, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Enterprises, Sesame Workshop:

“Like anything in life, it’s important to build a strong foundation for emotional wellbeing at an early age. We know that children who are mentally healthy show greater motivation to learn, have a more positive attitude about themselves and the world, and demonstrate higher academic performance. If we can address this issue in a focused way, we know we can have lifetime impact. That’s why we’re proud to partner with Place2Be to empower and give a voice to children across the UK.”

Aimed at early-year children, Celebrate The Day models healthy habits to promote positive well-being from a young age. One in five children and young people in England have a probable mental health condition*, and many continue to have these into adulthood. Evidence shows that early intervention – providing children with the tools they need to cope with challenges from a young age – can help lay the foundation for lifelong, good mental health.

This Children’s Mental Health Week, Place2Be and Sesame Workshop have joined forces to support children’s emotional literacy, and help families have important conversations about emotional wellbeing and mental health. Celebrate The Day sits as part of a suite of resources available to families for Children’s Mental Health Week and will also be available on the Sesame Workshop’s YouTube channel.

Catherine Roche, CEO of Place2Be:

“Listening, connecting with others and finding your voice are such important aspects of good mental health. This Children’s Mental Health Week we want to empower young people to find their voice and to know that is ok to talk about their emotions. So we’re delighted to have the support of Sesame Workshop and the brilliant Elmo – along with Place2Be Ambassador YolanDa Brown – to inspire more children and families to find their voice, open up about their thoughts, and feelings and connect with those around them.”

YolanDa Brown

Launched in 2015 by HRH The Princess of Wales, Royal Patron of Place2Be, Children’s Mental Health Week 2024 will take place from 5th -11th February.

This year’s theme is My Voice Matters and Place2Be is encouraging children and young people to share what matters to them, express themselves and celebrate each other. Research shows that empowering children and young people can have a positive impact on their wellbeing, and that children who feel that their voices are heard have higher levels of self-efficacy and self-esteem.

YolanDa, an award-winning musician, author, broadcaster and educator, has been an Ambassador for Place2Be since 2021, and is a good friend of Elmo and the Sesame Street Muppets. The video sees her encourage an excited Elmo to have a calm, mindful moment and celebrate himself and his day – a message weaved into the core of Children’s Mental Health Week 2024. On the video, YolanDa said:

“It was an absolute joy to share a Mindfulness Moment with my friend Elmo from Sesame Street. It was not only fun, but also incredibly meaningful. It’s vital for us to teach our children the power of mindfulness and the importance of mental wellbeing from a young age. Celebrating Children’s Mental Health Week with Place2Be and Sesame Street is a beautiful opportunity to connect with children, helping them to understand their feelings and find joy in every day.” 

In May 2023, Sesame Workshop announced its organisation-wide focus on the emotional wellbeing of young children and their families. Responding to the growing mental health crisis for young children, and building on decades of experience developing social-emotional learning content for families, Sesame Workshop is addressing this critical need through a wide range of activities and engaging content, including Mindfulness Moments, designed for the whole family and available on multiple platforms to reach children and families wherever they are.

A number of Sesame Workshop’s series are available to watch in the UK across multiple broadcast platforms. Fans can catch the latest seasons of Sesame Street on Amazon Kids+; Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck, Elmo’s World, Super Grover 2.0, Cookie’s Crumby Pictures, Smart Cookies and Elmo and Tango’s Mysterious Mysteries on Tiny Pop; Mecha Builders on Channel 5’s Milkshake; Bea’s Blocks and Mr Zoink on Sky Kids; and The Furchester Hotel on CBeebies and iPlayer.