One year towards a brighter future – Leah Iles, CEO at mdeducational foundation

mdeducational foundation is a charity, on a mission for all post-16 students to feel supported in every aspect of their wellbeing, helping them on their journey to a brighter future.

We are enabling schools to kickstart a long-term wellbeing strategy by providing fully funded wellbeing support to educational settings across the UK and Ireland. By doing so, we are prioritising and improving student wellbeing through education and beyond.

Last year, we were delighted to welcome Leah Iles as mdeducational foundation’s new Chief Executive Officer. Join us in reflecting on Leah’s journey so far as we celebrate her one-year anniversary.

Tell us a little about yourself – What inspired you to join mdeducational foundation and lead its mission?

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Miriam Dervan and Tarquin Scadding-Hunt, the Co-Founders of mdeducational foundation, for nearly 8 years and was kept fairly close to the development of the foundation throughout its infancy stages. When they asked me to take up the position of CEO for the foundation I jumped at the chance. Such an incredible cause.

My previous experience includes being a school governor, as well as volunteering and training with charity Shout. Both of these gave me a really good insight into the current need for further wellbeing support within the education sector.

Can you share your thoughts and highlights on your first year as the CEO of mdeducational foundation?

How time flies! We’ve achieved so much in the past year, but the biggest highlight has been building a team of core staff to be part of the journey with me. It was crucial that we expanded our internal team in order to support the ever-growing list of schools and educational settings we work with. The team are an integral part of the foundation’s success, underpinning the quality of support that we offer to schools and educational settings across the UK and Ireland. Check out the people behind the foundation here.

Another highlight has been that mdeducational foundation had the amazing opportunity to work together with the Department of Education, Ulster University, Department of Education Northern Ireland, BeeMe and NAPD, to shape the future together by pushing for change. We’ve also formed partnerships and collaborations with CYPMHC and Childline which has provided us with additional opportunities to reach educational settings and further develop our support. Learn more about our Partnerships and Collaborations here.

Making sure we are aligned and working together for the greater cause is one of my favourite parts of this job, so I will continue to nurture these relationships and form new ones.

Can you elaborate on the foundation’s long-term goals and how they align with your vision?

mdeducational foundation is aiming for a world in which every student has access to the wellbeing support that they need, without delay. Our long-term goals are to keep reaching all corners of the UK and Ireland – working with more schools and educational settings and helping them to kickstart their long-term wellbeing strategies.

Data from our Wellbeing Lead model has already proven its effectiveness. Now, we can focus on duplicating it and providing more educational settings with the opportunity to receive fully funded wellbeing support. I would like to think that in the long run our Wellbeing Lead model could be implemented in schools for all age groups.

The Wellbeing Leads that we place in educational settings are doing vital work, promoting positive wellbeing through the delivery of a wellbeing curriculum that normalise student psychological fitness and resilience. Take a look at what our Wellbeing Leads do to support the overall wellbeing of students here.

Our Wellbeing Leads also get to benefit from our ever-growing network, where wellbeing professionals can share ideas, progress and tips with each other. We also have Clinical Supervisors providing oversight to all of our Wellbeing Leads. They are on hand from both an ethical and governance perspective as well as being able to provide support, learning and reinforcement – making sure all of our Wellbeing Leads feel guided and heard in their roles. Our wellbeing professionals have the chance to make a real difference by providing much-needed support and pioneering a better future for our young people – through education and beyond.

What has mdeducational foundation achieved so far?

So far, we’re delighted to have finished our pilot school’s three-year salary funding commitment to place a Wellbeing Lead in the school. With the insights and data, we received from this pilot, we‘ve been able to witness the true impact and importance of our work.

Since we started with our pilot school, we’ve been proud to expand our reach and support many more post-16 schools and educational settings across the UK and Ireland. We have been extremely excited to increase our reach of support and launch our Wellbeing Lead model in both Ireland and Northern Ireland this year. We look forward to gathering more insights and data to keep developing our support.

We are prioritising student wellbeing by normalising student psychological fitness and resilience through education and beyond. Since September, our Wellbeing Leads have provided over 3200 post-16 students with accessible guidance and early intervention without delay to support them with their wellbeing.

Our Wellbeing Leads deliver a wellbeing curriculum through regular workshops, assemblies and enrichment sessions. We encourage our schools and educational settings to provide their dedicated Wellbeing Leads with a space, in which they can base themselves while also offering a safe place for students to go. There are known as Wellbeing Hubs and are welcoming places where students can go to meet the Wellbeing Lead and take part in different sessions to enrich their wellbeing. Activities included, for example, guest speakers, group activities, psychological workshops, meditation and colour therapy.

Why is mdeducational foundation’s mission so vital?

With a clear lack of research and support for students aged between 16-18, we see further education as an area needing improvement when it comes to supporting adolescents dealing with wellbeing challenges. Recent research shows that the rate of 17-19-year-olds with a probable mental disorder has risen from 1 in 10 in 2017 to 1 in 4 in 2022 (NHS Digital report, 2022).

Our charity’s mission is vital because we can’t currently see a light at the end of the tunnel for the educational sector to have enough funds to prioritise student wellbeing. Now more than ever, intervention is needed. So, we’re stepping up until someone else can. We believe that young people need more than just an education at school. We have the means to do so.

We understand the pressures young people face and the impact this can have on their lives, and we also know more can be done on a national level to support them – this is why we want to make sure to continually raise awareness of the importance of young people’s wellbeing.

What have you personally learned during this year in your role as CEO? What achievement have you been most proud of?

I’m so proud of the team we have and what they have all achieved to get us to where we are now. I’m very excited for the year ahead, in which, we will once again more than double the number of schools and educational settings we support, enabling them to kickstart their long-term strategies to improve the state of their young people’s wellbeing.

It has also been great to meet with students, parents, educational settings and stakeholders. One particularly rewarding personal moment was witnessing the impact that we had on one family’s life. They went through a very difficult time when their son was struggling with his mental health and was self-harming. They found support through one of our Wellbeing Leads who was placed in the school of his sister during a crucial exam period. In her mother’s words: “…knowing that she could go there [to visit the Wellbeing Lead] – has been invaluable, because children are certainly not going to seek out help. However, if it’s on your doorstep and at a place you go to every day, you can’t really put a price on that”.

Read the full story here.

What does the future hold for mdeducational foundation?

The future for mdeducational foundation looks incredibly promising. Even though we have a long way to go, we’ve been able to build a steady foundation for our charity’s vision and mission. We’re ready to get take on the challenge of getting more schools and educational settings on board widening our reach across the UK and Ireland. From here, we can focus on growth in these new areas and help even more educational settings and schools to support their students’ wellbeing.

We’re looking forward to forming new relationships in October, when mdeducational foundation is attending and exhibiting at the annual NAPD Conference 2023. Another exciting event will be celebrating our first-ever Wellbeing Lead placement in a school in Ireland! We are over the moon to launch in this particular school, which has really spearheaded our initiatives for Ireland. Watch this space for updates from the event!

We want to take more time to understand the needs of schools and educational settings in Scotland and Wales, and we can support them to support their 16-18-year-olds. We also look forward to working with the relevant educational bodies and stakeholders, learning more about their needs and eventually growing our reach there as well.

There’s still lots to do and much more to come – follow our exciting and important journey on social media!

Through educating, enlightening and empowering, we’re on a journey to a brighter future.