The Anna Freud Centre’s Mentally Healthy Schools (MHS) is a unique website for free quality-assured mental health resources for school staff in the UK. You can find information, advice and practical resources to better understand and promote pupils’ mental health and wellbeing.
With the help of these free resources, teachers can help children, young people and their families get the support they need when they need it, and prevent problems from escalating.
Here’s how you can be part of the mental health revolution in the UK:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
The Anna Freud Centre has just published a brand-new resource for schools and colleges all about emotionally-based school avoidance (EBSA). The resource introduces the topic, explores some of the potential risk factors, and provides strategies and tips to help education staff tackle the issue.
Download it for free now: https://www.annafreud.org/schools-and-colleges/resources/addressing-emotionally-based-school-avoidance?utm_source=cst&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ebsa
Experiencing racism can have significant mental health consequences. Young people say they want to see racism tackled, openly and in a way which reassures the whole school community that every student is valued and has a voice.
The Anna Freud Centre has created free resources for schools to support staff to understand the mental health impact of racism on children and young people, and to feel more confident in addressing related concerns. The new resources will help staff to build a whole school approach to anti-racism. The resources include advice and guidance on representation in the curriculum, staff training, policy templates, case studies with suggestions for celebration activities which involve the whole school community, and suggested support for students and staff. Download the free resources: www.annafreud.org/antiracismresources
The resources have been developed in collaboration with the Honourable Stuart Lawrence and BLAM (Black Learning Achievement and Mental Health) UK, as well as being informed by school staff, parents, carers and young people.
Emerging evidence indicates a significant impact on children and young people’s mental health as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mainstream secondary schools in England are invited to contribute to building the evidence base around different interventions to improve the mental health and wellbeing of school pupils.
The Anna Freud Centre is looking for schools to apply to take part in their Education for Wellbeing research programme, to implement and evaluate a range of mental health interventions for pupils in years 7, 8 and 9.
Participating schools will get support from leading experts in child mental health, mental health and wellbeing training for selected school staff, and £1,000 remuneration for their time.
To find out more about the programme, including whether your school is eligible and what is required, please see the information available on Education for Wellbeing or complete the online expression of interest form. Eligible schools will be selected on a first-come first-served basis. For further information, please contact the Anna Freud Centre
CST is working in a strategic partnership with the Anna Freud Centre to support our members with their plans to address pupils’ mental health and wellbeing:
The Anna Freud Centre are looking for mainstream secondary schools to apply to take part in their Education for Wellbeing research programme to implement and evaluate a range of mental health interventions for pupils in years 7, 8 and 9. Commissioned by the DfE, the programme aims to evaluate pioneering ways of supporting the mental health and wellbeing of pupils.
Potential benefits for participating schools
To find out more about the programme, including whether your secondary school/s are eligible and what is required, please click here.
The Anna Freud Centre has released a new podcast series. In this series of five podcast episodes, Cyra Neave, Senior Clinician at the Anna Freud Centre, interviews a number of experts to talk about racism and mental health in schools.
Guests on the podcast include former teacher, campaigner, author and speaker the Honourable Stuart Lawrence, and Eve Doran, researcher at Black Learning Achievement and Mental Health (BLAM).
The podcast episodes also feature the voices and experiences of teachers, including Rahi Popat from Keyham Lodge School, and Michelle Roddy and Wonu Salau from St. Bonaventure's School.
Whether you're starting primary school, moving up to secondary school or preparing to leave school for further education or work, these periods of transition can be challenging.
These free Mentally Healthy Schools toolkits for primary, secondary and FE settings are full of practical resources to help pupils and their parents manage changes in their education.
Download the
toolkits now: https://bit.ly/3zhRqCO
Cait Cooper, Deputy Director Mental Health and Wellbeing in schools at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families
Change is complex. Establishing a whole school, college or school trust approach to mental health is a major transformational task. Yet increasingly this is what schools or trust settings are expected to deliver. Research shows what teachers already know: happier children do better and have higher attendance rates than those whose problems are unresolved
So how do you go about it?
In this session, the Anna Freud Centre offer insights into how leaders can go about creating a culture shift to embed whole-school or trust approach to mental health and wellbeing.
Slides for this session can be found here.
Staff wellbeing has never been more important than now, but less than a quarter of schools carry out staff wellbeing surveys. Teaching has always been a high-pressure job, but coronavirus has made life even more difficult. The Anna Freud Centre has launched a free resource for schools and FE colleges to carry out staff wellbeing surveys. The staff survey is evidence-based, uses validated questions and it includes guidance about how to run surveys. Find out more: www.annafreud.org/staffsurvey
Mentally Healthy Schools was launched in 2018 by the Duchess of Cambridge as a legacy of the Heads Together campaign. The website is a collaboration between three of the UK’s leading child mental health and education charities.
Company no: 05303883
Charity no: 1107640
