Mental health concerns
Covid shone a light on how fragile our students’ mental health is.
The senior coroner’s verdict this week that an Ofsted inspection contributed to Headteacher Ruth Perry’s tragic death is a reminder that staff are vulnerable too.
This week, one of our research team - the excellent Marissa Razak - has found 18 schools, who have put mental health at the heart of their work, so you can see how they do it.
I’ve also got a round up of opportunities to work with members of the We Are In Beta Community.
We - schools - Are In Beta - always learning (when we prioritise mental health and wellbeing).
Mental health policy examples: analysis from 18 secondary schools.
In 2020, 1 in 6 aged 5-16 were found to have a probable mental health disorder, a significant rise from 1 in 9 in 2017 (NHS digital, 2020).
Young people in the lowest income bracket are 4.5x more likely to experience severe mental health problems than those in the highest income bracket (Gutman et al, 2015).
As the centre of young people's lives, how do schools promote and support the mental health and wellbeing of their students?
In search of an answer, Marissa spent five days scanning 90+ school websites to find 18 policies and 30+ strategies.
Want us to research policies and practices for you?
Reply to this email to tell us what policy you’re writing and we’ll do a lot of the leg work for you.
📝 How schools manage mental health - what Marissa explores:
how she defined mental health
how schools create cultures of good mental health and wellbeing
50+ observations she made about them
how to access 30+ mental health resources, 17 stand out case studies, 57 mental health organisations and 13 book recommendations.
🔎 5 mental health observations
The full article shares 50+ policy observations from the 18 policies looked at.
Here are five that might get you thinking about what your school does:
⚠️ Warning signs - 13/18 schools outline what teachers should be looking out for.
➡️ Referrals - 5/18 explain staff need to make referrals to designated safeguarding lead or mental health lead.
👂 In school counsellors - 9/18 schools referred to their in school counselling service.
📚Curriculum - 13/18 embed mental health in PSHE, 3/18 in PE.
🧑🏫 Training other schools - 1/18 does outward facing mental health work to support the system.
To read about the other 45 observations and learn how schools manage mental health…
🗒️ 17 stand out case studies
You don’t have the time to read all the resources, so we’ve done it for you.
We’ve found the most practical bits and organised them into 17 case studies about referral processes, risk assessments, identifying warning signs, sign posting support, assessing mental wellbeing and more.
This a members only resource. Not a member of Pastoral Champions?
💼🔎 Jobs with We Are In Beta community members
Middle leadership
🏑 Head of PE - Worle Community School (Weston-super-Mare).
📊 Lead Practitioner of Maths - Clacton Coastal Academy (Clacton-on-Sea, Essex).
🛠️ Lead Practitioner of DT - Clacton Coastal Academy (Clacton-on-Sea, Essex).
🎶 Head of Music - John Taylor Free School (Burton on Trent).
💰 Curriculum Leader for Business and Economics - John Taylor Free School (Burton on Trent).
🅿️1️⃣6️⃣ Second in Post 16 - John Taylor Free School (Burton on Trent).
Teaching
💰 Business & ICT - Worle Community School (Weston-super-Mare).
🎭 Drama - Brakenhale School (Bracknell).
📖 English (Lead Practitioner) - Bridgwater College Academy (Bridgwater, Somerset).
📖 English - Brakenhale School (Bracknell).
🌎 Geography - Brakenhale School (Bracknell).
📊 Maths - Worle Community School (Weston-super-Mare).
📊 Maths - The Thomas Aveling School (Rochester, Kent).
📊 Maths - New Rickstones Academy (Witham, Essex).
🇪🇸 MFL (French & Spanish) - West Somerset College (Somerset).
🇫🇷 MFL - John Taylor Free School (Burton on Trent).
🕌 RE - Clacton Coastal Academy (Clacton-on-Sea, Essex).
🕌 Religious Studies - John Taylor Free School (Burton on Trent).
🧪 Science (Physics/Chemistry) - New Rickstones Academy (Witham, Essex).
🧬 Science - Bridgwater College Academy (Bridgwater, Somerset).
On a personal note
I didn’t used to take mental health seriously.
But in 2017 I suffered a series of panic attacks when setting up what would later become We Are In Beta.
The enormity of the task dawned on me. The uncertainty surrounding it became incredibly difficult to handle. The probability of failure was piling up.
I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak.
My brain felt like tangled spaghetti of horror movie strobe glitches that made me want to vomit. I had absolutely no control over it.
I hope you have never felt like this. But if you, or someone you know has, I recommend checking out the NHS Talking Therapies Service.
Among other things, the CBT I did taught me to practice gratitude, focus on facts not feelings and to take others’ perspective to counter my own pervasive thoughts.
Thanks for reading.
@NiallAlcock and the We Are In Beta team.
Sent this by a friend?
📱 Get 17,363 school leaders and teachers in your pocket - download We Are In Beta app
🚀 Looking for a new role? Get updates about specific jobs you’re looking for before anyone else.
🆕 New here? Catch up with previous editions, podcasts and webinars via the archive.