When it comes to movement in Canadian children and youth, we received a D+ grade average, according to 2018's ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. The bottom line is that children aren't moving enough. It's effecting not only our physical, emotional, and mental health - but our overall moods too. Depression and anxiety are on the rise, and so are obesity rates in this age group. But what can we do about it?

 

Alberta Health Services (AHS) developed a research-based program, Move Your Mood, that uses physical activity to improve the mental well-being and overall mood of the youth participants. The program was developed and evaluated in Red Deer, Alberta, and based on its significant success, AHS wanted to develop a toolkit to support communities across Alberta to implement a Move Your Mood program. That's where we came in. Working with their amazing team,  we designed the overall look for this innovative project including the Move Your Mood logo, the Move Your Mood journey poster, four unique characters, and program assets including journal pages, program manual templates, handouts, stickers, banners, and more.

 

What started in Red Deer, this project has rolled out to communities across Alberta with growing interest to move national in the months to come.

 

By helping kids be motivated to move, confident to move, we created positive self-esteem that they can use for a lifetime.