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Schools have an obligation to advocate the healthy emotional, social, and behavioural development of all students, and the staff body. Communication around the resources your school has needs to be a priority.
Sharing content on your school website and social media channels based around this is an easy way to show your school's dedication to mental health.
Your school's Mental Health Awareness content can be grouped into three categories:
- What your school does to promote mental wellness amongst it's student and staff body,
- What preventative measures your school has in place to combat mental health issues, and
- What treatment is provided by your school to those who need additional help and support.
Promoting Mental Wellness
There are many ways schools promote mental wellness without it always being the primary objective for doing something. Identifying how an activity or event has a positive mental health link will enable content to be produced that highlights the ways in which your school promotes mental health wellness.
Having an extensive co-curricular offer enables students to try a broad variety of activities, one of which they may excel in promoting a sense of achievement, and most involve socialising which is often attributed to better mental health.
School social action groups are a wonderful way to not only raise funds and awareness for charities and local communities but also improve emotional well being of those involved, giving to others is known to reduce stress.
Encouraging connections between students and people they wouldn't normally socialise with also has numerous benefits, inclusive of mental health. Internally, older students can help out with those in younger years, externally, school exchange programmes are a great option. Visiting local care homes is another brilliant social exercise schools can set up.
Unfortunately, mental health can often be viewed as a taboo subject. Addressing mental health issues in dedicated PSHE lessons, assemblies and awareness days helps to normalise the topic, lessening any judgement or embarrassment students may feel in reaching out to discuss their own mental health struggles.
Collating information resources into an online library and sharing access to these with students, staff and parents is a great way to promote mental health awareness amongst your school community. Online resources are especially usefully as they can be viewed in private, lessening any social anxiety people may feel using a physical library of resources.
Preventative Measures
Understanding the factors contributing to poor mental health amongst young people is a key step in being able to put in place preventative measures. Outlining what these issues are demonstrates to both current and prospective families that the school not only has a deep knowledge of the topic but also understands its importance and takes it seriously.
Factors such as:
- Exam Stress, which can be overwhelming for students.
- Social Media, is fast evolving, confusing and often produces feelings of inadequacy amongst it's users.
- LGBTQ+, young people who identity as LGBTQ+ can often find it difficult to communicate their feelings to both friends and family which can lead to isolation and loneliness.
- Relationships and Friendships, learning how to manage relationships and friendships is a big part of school and one which can often be very tumultuous.
- Transitioning, from one year group or school to another - be that a move from primary to secondary school or because of a relocation.
Once you have a list of things known to cause mental anguish to students communicate across your various communication channels how your school tackles these problems; revision classes, external authority speakers on topics such as online safety and LGBTQ+, move up days etc.
Treatment
Simple steps can be taken by way of treating mental health issues within schools.
No doubt your school has in place dedicated staff, such as school nurses or counsellors or form tutors, to monitor students behaviour and who are trained to notice any red flags that may be a sign of mental health issues. Having an 'open door policy' where by students know who to come and talk to should they have a need to do so is an easy but vital step. Communicating this often helps to embed the message that someone is always there to listen.
Likewise, communicating contact details for external mental health help and support is a must, in the circumstances that a student, member of staff or even a parent does not feel comfortable approaching an internal member of the school.
To summarise, produce content in the form of blogs, vlogs and social media posts, that highlights your schools understanding of the mental health issues faced by all members of its community - students, staff and parents - and things in place to help people tackle any issues they may be facing. By signposting the support you offer, you will help your school community access the resources they need, and also show your prospects that mental health is a priority at your school.
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