Self-worth, or self-esteem, affects every part of our lives. Yet here is perhaps a surprising report of an improvement in self-esteem.

Smoking

It is estimated that in England there are over 2 million fewer adult smokers today than there were a decade ago, yet this year alone it is estimated that around 250,000 more people in England will start smoking. The majority of these will be under the age of 18. Cut Films is a competition-based project that is hoping to reverse the trend by encouraging young people to make films which encouraged their friends and families to stop smoking through innovative and peer-led films.

Film-making Experiment

Piloted in nine schools and one Youth Club between September and November 2009, the project challenges young people to research, write and produce a short film about the dangers of smoking, and then to publish them for other young people to view on You Tube and Facebook via the Cut Films website.

A full evaluation of the pilot phase has recently been published, highlighting a number of positive outcomes. Young people who took part felt that the approach created a strong environment for them to find their own voice on the issue of smoking, and to get the message out to their peers about the consequences of smoking in a creative and relevant way. Some young participants who were reportedly non smokers also suggested that the film making process did help persuade them not to take up smoking.

Teachers involved in Cut Films reported that it provided them with a flexible, effective and user-friendly teaching resource for educating students on the issue of smoking, and without lecturing them.

Improved Self-esteem & Confidence

In addition, many teachers found that the project improved the self-esteem and self-confidence of participants and promoted a high level of engagement from disaffected students.

This has been so successful that they intend to roll it out again next year.

Source: Teaching Times, 29 March 2010

What can we learn from this?

Well, it is clear that the thing that improved self-esteem and self-confidence was the satisfaction of producing a film and having it published. This will have involved much creative effort and I am certain many will be very pleased with their efforts. What is particularly clever about this project is that it gets the young people to research the reasons why they should not smoke.

You can also learn, if you do not know already, that working on a project or hobby can help you to raise your self-esteem. Make a decision to work on a worthwhile project or perhaps to take up a new hobby that will produce something you can be proud of. This will inevitably raise your self-esteem.

To your success,

Bill Webb.