Sesame Street launches expansive well-being initiative for kids this mental health awareness month

In honor of Mental Health Awareness month this May, Sesame Workshop, Sesame Street's nonprofit educational arm, has launched a new campaign aimed at supporting the emotional well-being of young children, according to a release by the nonprofit.

Responding to a growing mental health crisis amongst young children and building on decades of experience developing social-emotional learning content for families, the Workshop will address mental health needs through a wide range of activities and engaging content designed for the whole family.

These will include a wide variety of offerings such as a new YouTube special titled Elmo’s Mindfulness Spectacular which is a 5-minute Sesame Street and YouTube health and wellness special that explores big feelings that Elmo is feeling and that will take children on an epic mindfulness adventure.

The special will star Juanpa Zurita, Jenny Slate, Fitness Marshall, Lauren Riihimaki (LaurDIY), and Marques Brownlee and include original music from Arts Music, a division of Warner Music Group.

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The Workshop’s approach will offer strategies to support all families – from celebrating joyful everyday moments and helping children learn the essential skills they need to understand and manage their feelings to supporting parents and community providers in understanding the importance of recognizing signs of possible emotional distress.

The campaign comes as the evidence that young children are struggling continues to mount.  Last year, several groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, declared a mental health emergency among the nation’s children, according to the Workshop. The crisis has only deepened during the pandemic, indicating that young children especially need support and resources to build their long-term emotional health and well-being. In response to this, Sesame Workshop committed to a deeper and stronger role in addressing the emotional well-being of young children and their families. 

“Children who are healthy in both mind and body tend to be happier, show greater motivation to learn, and have a more positive attitude about themselves and the world,” said Jeanette Betancourt, the senior vice president, U.S. Social Impact of Sesame Workshop. “Together with the caring adults in children’s lives, we’re helping children develop a foundation for emotional well-being for years to come.” 

Besides the YouTube short, Sesame Workshop has also partnered with the Ad Council’s Sound It Out campaign to distribute a new PSA with an original song, Me & My Grown-Up. In the video, Elmo and his dad, Louie; Wes and his dad, Elijah; Big Bird with Granny Bird; and Abby and her mom, Maggie, sing about the important role grown-ups play in supporting the emotional well-being of the children in their lives.

Bilingual resources on the importance and benefit of creating and nurturing meaningful relationships will also be released throughout May on Sesame Workshop's newly launched resource hub for parents, caregivers, and providers. The new suite of resources will include a digital storybook, printable activity sheets, articles, and webinars for providers. Families will also be able to stream the video resources on PBS KIDS. 

Additionally, Sesame Workshop’s podcast with Headspace, Goodnight, World!, will return this summer with a second season. Developed by a team of early childhood and meditation experts, Goodnight, World! reimagines the popular sleepcast format to help children practice transitioning from their active days to naptime or bedtime. Sesame Workshop also collaborated with Headspace and Penguin Random House on a six-book series based on the highly successful Monster Meditation videos on Sesame Street’s YouTube channel.

That's not all though, Sesame Workshop has also announced a new publishing partnership with Mayo Clinic Press Kids, an imprint of Mayo Clinic Press, to create content focused on emotional well-being. Launching in Fall 2024, books will celebrate the whole-body approach to health, provide tips for what to do during anxious times, normalize having the wiggles, and more.

With a global reach, Sesame Workshop’s initiative will cumulate in the premiere of The Big Feelings Special, a new primetime episode focused on big feelings for the whole family to enjoy together on May 20. 

The news comes as more people look to support young people when it comes to their mental health. Recently, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said that its platform is beneficial to adolescent mental health. During an interview with Bloomberg, Wojcicki said the platform sees a lot of creators actually talk about mental health and as such, "destigmatises" the topic for younger individuals and spurs people to talk about what is happening with them. She added that YouTube works with a panel of experts to understand the various ways that its product could be used and how it can become a valuable resource for challenging issues such as body positivity and mental health.

This came after Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an investigative series titled "The Facebook Files", which said that Instagram was "toxic" for teenage girls. The publication claimed that Facebook had known about the harmful effects of Instagram on teenage girls but did not do anything about it. Facebook had hit back at WSJ, claiming that the investigative series contained "deliberate mischaracterisations" of what the company was trying to do. Instagram also halted the creation of Instagram Kids, a new app it is creating for kids, citing safety concerns; reported Channel NewsAsia.

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