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Mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges

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Whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing 

Taking a coordinated and evidence-informed approach to mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges leads to improved pupil and student emotional health and wellbeing which can help readiness to learn.

The whole school or college approach, published by Public Health England (PHE), defines the behaviours that go with good mental health and wellbeing practice. These behaviours have been summarised in this section with links to support and resources which are available to help you develop or introduce a whole school or college approach.

Before you start

You will find it helpful if you first:

  1. read the section on introducing a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing

  2. understand your pre-existing statutory responsibilities on the SEND code of practicesafeguarding and RHSE curriculum

Leadership and management

Developing or introducing a whole school or college approach to mental health involves strategic change, ideally overseen by a setting’s senior mental health lead. To help senior leads:

  • the Department for Education (DfE) is offering grants for training to develop a senior mental health lead in every state school or college from autumn 2021
  • where established, Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) should also support senior leads to develop their approach

Ethos and environment

To encourage a good learning environment through policies, values and attitudes, you can:

Staff development and wellbeing

School staff may not feel confident to promote and support good mental health and may also need to know how to look after their own wellbeing to be able to support children and young people.

You can:

Identifying need and monitoring impact

You can:

Working with families

You can:

Targeted support

If you need specific or specialist support, you may need to involve:

  • local NHS Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS)
  • local or voluntary organisations
  • GP practices

Your local area may also be able to get help through:

There’s also specific guidance on School counselling which includes:

  • a blueprint on how to set up an in-school counselling service
  • information on how to support SEND, looked after and LGBTQ+ children who may have higher prevalence of mental health conditions

Curriculum, teaching and learning

Resources are available to help you:

Student voice

Young children and people can also play an active role in creating a supportive school environment. You can use the findings from the Anna Freud peer support programme to develop your own in-school activities.

Senior mental health leads training

School staff are not expected to, and should not, diagnose mental health conditions or perform mental health interventions.

Eligibility

All state schools and colleges in England will be eligible for a training grant.

Features

Senior lead training:

  • gives senior leaders the knowledge and skills they’ll need to develop an effective whole school or college approach to mental health
  • introduce new approaches to promote and support mental health

Benefits

This programme will help you to:

  • use your existing resources more effectively
  • promote good mental health and wellbeing in your setting
  • quickly identify individual pupils or students who need support with their mental health
  • work effectively with local children and young people’s mental health services services, including Mental Health Support Teams where they are established.

Availability

Funding is available to offer a grant to around a third of all state schools and colleges in 2021 to 2022 financial year, and a waitlist will be created for grants beyond this period. Settings ready to develop or introduce their whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing, with capacity to undertake training before March 2022, will be encouraged to apply.

We aim to provide the opportunity for all state schools and colleges to access the training by 2025.

Time commitment

Approximately 2 working days, depending on your specific learning needs and preferences and the type of course you access.

Get more information

Senior mental health lead training in schools provides further information on senior mental health lead training and a whole school or college approach.

Training providers

Training providers interested in providing senior mental health lead training can find out more on Contracts finder

Wellbeing for education recovery

The wellbeing for education return programme was launched in August 2020. DfE has invested a further £7m in developing the programme which is now called wellbeing for education recovery.

Features

This programme funds local authorities to provide additional support to schools and colleges, including:

  • helping with navigation of existing provision to make the best use of the recovery and pupil premium funding
  • continuing to deliver wellbeing for education return training, on issues such as bereavement and loss, understanding anxiety and low mood, and actions for building resilience and recovery
  • providing ongoing support and advice supporting schools and colleges to assess their needs and provision

How to access this support

Contact your local authority to express an interest. Local authorities will allocate money based on local need and can discuss their plans for providing support and advice with you.

The Link Programme

Only certain local areas will be participating in the Link Programme – contact your local authority to find out whether they are participating and what support they can offer you.

Eligibility

Up to 50 upper tier local authorities can take part in the 2021 to 2022 academic year, including:

  • 25 in wave 1 (from September 2021)
  • 25 in wave 2 (from January 2022)

Local authorities can submit an expression of interest if they want to apply.

Schools and colleges concerned about partnership working should contact their local authority or NHS Clinical Commissioning Group.

Features and benefits

This programme:

  • brings together local partners important who can support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing
  • offers structured sessions to identify priorities and agree goals to promote and support good mental health and wellbeing
  • supports the locality to develop a tailored action plan that will feed into strategic planning
  • delivers tailored support sessions focussed on improving joint working between education and mental health professionals, based on the needs assessment and goals
  • offers a progress review and support at three and six months to help embed change locally

Time commitment

10 hours over approximately 8 weeks.

Get more information

Go to The Link Programme.

Relationships, health and sex education (RHSE) training module

Who is it for

Subjects leads and teaching staff in primary and secondary schools.

Features

This resource helps subject leads and school staff:

  • get the content they need to teach young people about managing their mental health and wellbeing
  • see examples of good practice
  • access training resources and templates you can customise

Benefits

This resource will help you to:

  • understand what you should be teaching
  • become more confident in training teachers or teaching about mental health and wellbeing
  • respect sensitivities

Availability

Ongoing.

Time commitment

The training lasts between 90 and 180 minutes.

How to access the support

Access the Mental health and wellbeing training module.

Get further guidance on Planning your RHSE curriculum.

Mental Health Support Teams (MHST)

Who is it for

Schools and colleges in participating MHST areas who want to work more closely with mental health professionals in their local area, receive additional mental health and wellbeing support and extra capacity for early intervention and help for mild to moderate mental health issues.

Eligibility

Only certain local areas will be participating in this programme. The approach to working with schools and colleges will be determined by each MHST site with their education partners.

MHSTs are designed to support all types of education settings but support is being targeted in the areas where there is greatest need. Use the NHS website to find out more.

Features

This resource:

  • delivers evidence-based interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues
  • supports the senior mental health lead in your school or college to introduce and develop a whole school or college approach to mental health
  • provides timely advice to school and college staff to help children and young people to get the right support and stay in education

Benefits

This resource will help you to:

  • support pupils and students with mild to moderate mental health issues in their setting without having to refer to external providers
  • map what provision is already in place in settings and where the gaps are
  • coordinate quickly with external agencies where this is needed

Psychological first aid training

Who is it for

All school and college staff who help children and young people, aged up to 25 years.

Features

The programme:

  • offers resources and content to teach young people about managing their mental health and wellbeing
  • provides examples of good practice
  • provides access to training resources and templates that you can customise

Benefits

This resource will help you to:

  • support young people who have recently experienced an emergency or crisis
  • offer training to all school or college staff that want it
  • get access to a globally-accepted level of training that is recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO)

Availability

Ongoing.

Time investment

One session which lasts between 1 hour 30 mins and 3 hours.

How to access the support

Go to Psychological First Aid: Supporting Children and Young People.


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