Covering topics including developmental trauma, anxiety, eating disorders, school-avoidance, self-harm and more, The School Mental Health Response Handbook is designed for the busy individual seeking to support the well-being of children and young people to dip in and out of as needed. This blog piece is an edited section from the book’s introduction.
The whole-school approach to mental health
‘Schools have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children by developing whole-school approaches tailored to their particular needs, as well as considering the needs of individual pupils.’ (Department for Education, 2018)
A whole-school approach to mental health involves all parts of the school community working together to support the needs of the children. It requires collaboration between senior leaders, all school staff, parents and carers, external agencies and community organizations.
The Department for Education (DfE, 2018) places emphasis on the importance of early intervention when setting out how they envisage the school’s role in supporting and promoting mental health and wellbeing:
• Prevention: Schools need to create a safe, calm environment where mental health issues are less likely, improving the mental health and wellbeing of the whole school population, and equipping pupils to be resilient so that they can manage the normal stress of life effectively. This will include teaching pupils about mental wellbeing through the curriculum and reinforcing this teaching through school activities and ethos.
• Identification: Staff need to be able to identify issues early and accurately.
• Early support: Staff need to help pupils to access evidence-based early support and interventions.
• Access to specialist support: Schools should work effectively with external agencies to provide swift access or referrals to specialist support and treatment. They also suggest that schools follow eight key principles to embedding a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing (DfE, 2018):
• leadership and management that supports and champions efforts to promote emotional health and wellbeing
• curriculum teaching and learning to promote resilience and support social and emotional learning
• enabling student voice to influence decisions
• staff development to support their own wellbeing and that of students
• identifying need and monitoring impact of interventions
• working with parents and carers
• targeted support and appropriate referral
• an ethos and environment that promotes respect and values diversity.
Using this handbook
This handbook is specifically designed to support school staff in developing the knowledge and skills to support children and young people who display signs of poor mental health, or who have experienced heightened levels of stress and trauma. The information and resources aim to equip educators to feel empowered to respond safely and effectively to pupils in distress. All of the tools and strategies are evidence-based but can be used by anyone working in the school setting who would like to interact in a more nurturing and therapeutic way. The handbook aims to reflect the most recent research and thinking around specific mental health issues such as anxiety, emotionally based school avoidance, eating disorders and self-harm, to provide staff with the confidence they need to support the children and young people that they work with.
The first three chapters introduce the role of school staff in supporting mental health and some helpful guidance on a general approach to supporting the mental health needs in children and young people. You may choose to read the Introduction and Chapters 1, 2 and 3, and then dip into those that you require as and when the situations present themselves. It is essential to read Chapter 1 as this introduces our FIRES Framework, which we will refer to throughout the handbook.
As well as providing essential information and strategies, the chapters all include case studies, reflection points, top tips, and quotes, encouraging you to interact with the resource and bring it to life with your own experiences.
A final note
Ultimately, it is hoped that this resource will empower school staff to feel confident in supporting children and young people with their mental health and wellbeing. We strongly believe that those currently working in our education system have a vital, rewarding and challenging role. In amongst all their other duties, school staff are often chosen by children and young people to confide in, and be nurtured by, but may also receive very little training to allow them to feel confident in doing so.
To all those working tirelessly in our schools – we see you, and this resource is for you.
The School Mental Health Response Handbook is available in paperback and ebook.