MELVA: Children’s Wellbeing and Mental Health Education Through Storytelling

With the support of the North of Tyne Combined Authority, theatre and creative learning charity Mortal Fools made their award-winning, creative mental health programme, MELVA, available free of charge to over 50 local primary schools.

Through the MELVA programme, children engage with a range of different art forms and storytelling devices – including short animations and digital theatre – which explore mental health and wellbeing topics in an accessible, child-friendly way. These are accompanied by practical and creative activities designed to help children cultivate positive wellbeing habits and self-management techniques.

Timeline

September 2023 – July 2024

Project Partners

Creators and Producers

Mortal Fools

Collaborators

Danielle Slade – Playwright
Vida Creative – Web Developers

Key Goals

To increase pupils’ understanding of mental health and wellbeing through creative storytelling
To teach pupils practical self-management techniques
To improve teachers’ confidence in addressing mental health topics in school

The Inspiration

The MELVA programme began life as a children’s theatre show in Christmas 2017, telling the story of nearly-11-year-old, Melva Mapletree, as she navigates her struggles with anxiety and bereavement (or ‘worrits’ as they’re known in her world). The play was developed in consultation with children, who helped shape the character and story at every stage. Following its initial success, the play was developed into a regional schools’ tour with wraparound activities, visiting 28 North East primary schools. When the pandemic hit, Mortal Fools acted fast to transform this live programme into a fully digital resource, and today, it is used by over 100 schools and reaches 1000s of children every year.

The Impact

Outcomes

Increased reach to children in the North East

Over 3,000 children participated in the MELVA digital programme between September 2023 – July 2024.

Improving knowledge and understanding

Evaluation received from a sample of schools demonstrated a 94% improvement in pupils’ understanding of mental health and wellbeing topics, and a 99% increase in their knowledge of practical self-management techniques (as rated by teachers).

Improving children’s wellbeing

Wellbeing was measured using the integrated PERMA^TM Framework for mental wellbeing, with every PERMA^TM pillar being rated highly by children in over 60% of MELVA sessions (most notably Positive Emotion, rated highly in 81% of sessions).

Empowering Teachers

Teachers reported increased confidence in addressing mental health topics in school and a greater awareness of children’s anxieties, with some describing the accompanying CPD training as ‘transformational’.

Providing sustainable strategies in schools

In academic year 24/25, North East Combined Authority renewed and expanded their funding offer to over 100 schools, with 81% of the existing school partners choosing to continue using MELVA.

Impact

“I really enjoyed doing MELVA and getting to know all of the characters. It helped me to recognise my emotions and understand my feelings.”

Pupil, Year 6

“The sessions are fun because there are so many different activities to do. I think all children should get the chance to do MELVA.”

Pupil, Year 6

“The programme is fun, so it’s taken away the fear of dealing with these topics. It’s empowered staff to deal with difficult subjects and know that they are doing it right.”

Teacher, Year 3

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