A New Resource Hub to Support Mental Health Leads in Schools and Colleges
A new online resource hub has been launched by Anna Freud. Commissioned by the Department for Education, Anna Freud have collaborated with a range of education and mental health experts to produce this new hub for mental health leads and other education staff.
The Hub
The hub is dedicated to assisting schools and colleges in integrating and maintaining a comprehensive approach to mental health and wellbeing. It provides practical resources and tools from reputable organizations, including providers of senior mental health lead training, all in one place. This comprehensive support aids mental health leads in advancing their role and effectively assisting children and young people in their respective settings.
Developed in collaboration with various sectors and professional bodies, such as the Association of Colleges, the hub is tailored to meet the unique needs of different setting types and age groups, with a specific focus on colleges. It takes into account the diverse requirements of a varied workforce.
Resources
The resources currently available are:
- Wellbeing curriculum toolkit
- Resource pack for education staff
- Mental health: it is ok not to be ok
- Mental health resource quality assessment
- Empathy based classrooms
- The principles of excellence in relationships education
- Mental health training competency framework
- Implementing the whole school approach: audit tool and action plan
- Supporting bereavement situations for children
- Building collegiate relationships in schools
- Looking after our sleep
- Dealing with illness: a guide for teachers and education staff
- Tips for supporting children dealing with grief
- Suicide prevention in the context of digital use and behaviours
- A multi-agency approach to suicide prevention
- Supporting attendance for pupils with mental health issues
- Supporting each other in grief and offering comfort in times of mourning
- Holistic support following a suicide within the school community
- Teacher burnout and how to avoid it
- Staff helpline
- Menopause in the education workplace
- Building blocks of good mental wellbeing
- Building positive relationships between parents and teachers
- Teaching about mental wellbeing
- Engaging parents and families - a toolkit for practitioners
- Tackling student anxiety
- Working with parents to support children’s learning
- Toolkit for schools and colleges
- Teaching and learning toolkit
- Me and my feelings questionnaire
- Student resilience survey
- Framework for promoting wellbeing
- Whole-school approach audit tool
- Building positive mental health
- Mental health and behaviour in schools
- Using measurement tools to understand pupils' mental health needs
- Better together: youth work with schools
- Wellbeing measurement framework for primary schools
- Wellbeing measurement framework for secondary schools
- Wellbeing measurement framework for colleges
- Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWS)
- Promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing: A whole-school or college approach
- Wellbeing measurement for schools - staff survey
- Guide to reviewing school policies with an anti-racist lens
- Learning outcomes for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges
- Wellbeing and workload: school workload reduction toolkit
- How to talk about and support young people with their wellbeing
- A guide to providing school or college-based counselling
- Responding to critical incidents in educational communities
- Education staff wellbeing charter
- Staff wellbeing toolkit
- Wellbeing ambassadors training programme for secondary schools and colleges
- Wellbeing ambassadors training programme for primary schools
- Example of an anti-bullying statement
- Effectively challenging racism in schools
- Wellbeing activity booklet
- Wellbeing activity leaflet for primary schools
- Wellbeing ambassadors cheat sheet
- Fostering restorative practice in schools
- Overview of ideas for curriculum, teaching and learning to support wellbeing
- Overview of ideas to promote a respectful environment
- Overview of ideas to identify need and monitor impact of wellbeing
- Overview of ideas for leadership and management to support wellbeing
- Overview of ideas to support pupils’ mental wellbeing
- Overview of ideas to promote staff wellbeing
- Overview of ideas to enable student voice in schools and colleges
Eight whole-school or college approach principles
All the resources are based on 8 principles of a whole school or college approach to promoting mental health and wellbeing which, if applied consistently and comprehensively, will help contribute towards protecting and promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
Each principle is considered together with some examples from practice and a question to help the reader to reflect on the implications for practice in their own setting.
The resources also signpost to resources to support implementation of a whole school or college approach (covering government guidance and advice, training for education staff, curriculum support, resources for young people, parents and carers) and examples of a range of organisations that provide mental health and wellbeing support focussed on school and college setting
Performances organised by a school within the meaning of the relevant educational establishment for example: A performing arts school which also provides a child's main education. A school providing a child's main education working alongside a performing arts school. A home-educated child could qualify under this exemption if the arrangements for the performance are made by a school.
Mental Health Information
This section of the site helps school staff understand the many risk factors that may challenge and undermine children and young people’s mental health.
Each page provides information about key risk factors and how schools and colleges can play a major part in helping pupils build a ‘protective shield’ against these risks.
Whole-school approach
A mentally healthy school is one that adopts a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing.
A whole-school approach involves all parts of the school working together and being committed. It needs partnership working between senior leaders, teachers and all school staff, as well as parents, carers and the wider community.
In this section of Mentally Healthy Schools, you'll find information and guidance to help you implement a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing, split up by UK country.
Targeted support
A guide and tool for providing effective targeted mental wellbeing support in your school or college.