9 – 13 May is Mental Health Awareness week. According to research by the Children’s Society, In the last 3 years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%. Now, five children in a classroom of 30 are likely to have a mental health problem.
In the first of a new series of roundtables, we gathered together an esteemed panel of experts including psychologists, teachers, students, counsellors, and entrepreneurs. Together we explored the state of mental health in young people in the UK, and what we as a society can do to make a positive change.
The roundtable took place online on the 28th April, with our thanks to the following guests:
Dave Mcpartlan: Dave is a PhD student studying mental health in schools. Dave was formerly an Assistant Headteacher and DSL in a large comprehensive secondary school, with over 20 years of experience in welfare and behaviour.
Dr Nihara Krause: Consultant Clinical Psychologist and CEO of stem4. She has an interest in providing tools to build resilience, creating a suite of apps and an education programme through her stem4 charity.
Dr Sue Roffey: Author, Academic, Psychologist, social activist, TEDx speaker. Having written nearly 20 books, Sue is passionate about student wellbeing and being a positive agent for change.
Michael Crinnion: A former product engineer and teacher, Michael is passionate about improving mental health and wellbeing in young people. He created Luma³ and Mind Body Goals Ltd, a mindfulness tool backed by science for students.
Natalie Read: Natalie is a counsellor, coach and author with prior corporate experience. After 15 years of working as a university student counsellor, Natalie is now focusing more time on her passions including mental health prevention and combining new approaches for more longer lasting happiness and well-being.
Dr Art Lazarus: Dr Lazarus has been a practising psychiatrist for 20 years. He advocates for physician wellness and lending a voice to stigmatised and marginalised clinicians, trainees and patients everywhere.
Conor Nolan: Now working as a data analyst, Conor experienced anorexia and depression at school. He now advocates for mental health, having written a book at just 22 years old.
Grace Sheahan: Grace is completing her master’s degree whilst working as a religious education teacher in Ireland. Grace is an advocate for better mental health training for teachers to support students.
Dr Emma Broglia: Dr Broglia is a Postdoctoral Researcher specialising in student mental health and Research Clinic Manager working across The University of Sheffield Professional Services and Psychology Department.
Jo Holmes: Jo Holmes is the Children, Young People and Families lead at BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). Jo works within the policy team and campaigns for Government funded universal access to a trained counsellor for children and young people in school, college and community settings. Jo has a background in youth work, extended schools and later worked as a school counsellor in a busy secondary school.
Key points from the roundtable discussion
How mental health for young people has changed
The discussion began by considering how mental health for young people has changed in the last 10 years. It was noted that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted challenges that already existed in young people’s mental healthcare, but there have been some benefits, including the acceleration of digital solutions. According to Dr Krause, the pandemic “introduced the importance of getting [mental health support] that can extend scope, reach, and create impact in a much more accessible way”.
Dr Krause also discussed the need for parents and carers to share the role of education around digital resilience, especially given the proliferation of social media and young people’s access to the internet.
Schools approach to mental health support and areas for development
The panel all agreed that trust is a critical element in order to encourage young people to seek support. Dr Sue Roffey sums this up: “I think it’s about developing relationships, where young people trust, and feel trusted and respected”.
Michael Crinnion shared his experience of working in a school and how there is often a disconnect between a child’s behaviour and the support they receive. As Michael says, “all behaviour is communication”, yet most schools have the same approach where behaviour A equals consequence B. Instead, teachers should be looking to the root cause of what specific behaviours might actually be signalling, as opposed to trying to correct those behaviours through a sanctions-based system.
Dr Roffey agreed that schools need to take a different approach. She believes the solution lies in promoting positive relationships that show teachers believe in the best of young people. Only by having this personal way of approaching learning, can young people begin to feel more positive. The onus should never be on the child to ask for help.
Dave McPartlin also supports the development of a non-judgemental culture, which he notes is difficult in today’s exam-based culture “where we’re getting children to compete with each other, or compete with the system”. The current system for identifying young people with mental health challenges is broken as it relies on teachers being aware of what’s going on with every pupil. Instead, the focus should be on training young people to look after themselves, to support each other, and to know where to go if they do need help.
Conor Nolan adds that “I once read that the key to looking after our mental health is having some very difficult conversations. And I think those are some of the difficult conversations we need to have with ourselves and with young people in general”.
Mental health literacy
Dr Emma Broglia shares her experience of improving mental health support with mental health literacy. She notes that schools deal with the topics of technology, drugs and alcohol in a black and white way – they are just things to “stop”. Instead, the message should be about education – for example, it’s okay to use technology, but it needs to be used safely and responsibly. In the same way, we need reliable training around how we talk about mental health.
To avoid the stigma around mental health, we need to look at preventative strategies such as encouraging conversations between students and staff, and giving young people opportunities to come to their own solutions together. This might include talking in small groups about what might be safe levels of drinking, and how they can resist going over this. Dr Broglia adds that “teaching mental health in isolation has failed time and time again. Incorporating it with physical wellness could provide a brilliant, well rounded solution”.
Looking at mental health differently
The way in which mental health education and support is currently delivered could be improved. Michael Crinnion suggests that PE lessons could be changed to general “wellness” lessons where the connection between mind and body is as one – that going for a run is as good for your health as it is for your mental wellbeing. Michael says “there are many ways we can support our own mental health and build emotional resilience and these must be included as a core part of our curriculum with as much importance as other subjects.”
Finally Dr Roffey makes an insightful point around empowerment and community. “Young people are empowered to create change in their lives in the world around them. They feel included, and have a greater sense of connection with their community. It’s about developing schools, youth groups, and institutions and a society which has that sort of cultural climate for change”.
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Thank you to all of our speakers who took part.
mdeducational Foundation is on a mission to provide grants to place mental health professionals into sixth forms and further education establishments across the UK and Ireland for up to 3 years. If you’re interested in working with us to support your young people in their wellbeing, contact us today.
For more information on Mental Health Awareness Week, click here.
