insideKENT Magazine Issue 39 - June 2015 | Page 91

HEALTH+WELLNESS

tackling mental health
in the young
Schools across the country are to receive new advice to improve teaching about
mental health and tackle stigma in schools
It's a scary but very real fact that today, one in 10 children has a diagnosable mental health disorder –
that's around three children in every classroom. However, the new measures announced this March by the
secretary of state for education, Nicky Morgan, will help ensure pupils who may be suffering in silence have
the support and knowledge they need to keep themselves healthy and safe, while helping their classmates
to develop an understanding of the problems they’re facing.

Unveiling a step-change in the way
children and young people with
mental health problems are to be
supported both inside and outside
the classroom, Nicky Morgan
announced that there will be:
• Brand new guidance for schools,
produced in conjunction with
the PSHE Association, which will
help schools provide ageappropriate teaching on mental
health problems from anxiety and
depression to eating disorders
and self-harm
• A new visionary blueprint for
schools on counselling services,
developed in conjunction with
children and young people, which
provides headteachers with
practical advice on how to deliver
top-quality school-based
counselling services that meet the
needs of those it intends to
support
• A multi-million-pound funding
injection for voluntary
organisations to boost support
on offer for young people
struggling with mental health – a
new funding commitment worth
£4.9 million – through
the government’s voluntary and
community sector funding
programme also announced this
March

Education secretary, Nicky Morgan,
said: "As a mum myself, I know
growing up today is no easy task.
Young people are under more
pressure than ever before in ways
that are unimaginable to my
generation. This is driven home to
me every week when I visit schools
across the country and talk to pupils
about the issues affecting them –
and mental health comes up time
and time again.

about exams to incredibly serious
and debilitating long-term
conditions. It can also be hard to
help these young people access
the right support they need to get
better.
"The new guidance and lesson
plans will help make sure that every
single school in the country is a
place where mental health needs
are identified and where appropriate
support is provided sympathetically
and without stigma."

"We send our children to school to
learn life lessons both inside and
outside of the classroom. The new
guidance published today will give
teachers the confidence to teach
mental wellbeing sensitively and
effectively, while the lesson plans
will give them the material needed
to inspire them.

The new guidance will also be matched by detailed lesson plans – to be
published in time for the new school year – with tangible and real-life
examples of how these important matters should be taught to children and
young people.
The new £4.9 million funding forms part of the government’s voluntary and
community sector funding stream – a £25 million pot of money designed
to bolster the work of organisations that make a difference to children and
their families. This is the first year that the programme has placed a specific
focus on mental health projects. Successful bids include:

"There must be no trade-off
between learning about mental
health and academic success. By
improving teaching on this subject,
we will help young people make
sense of mental health issues and
teach them how to keep themselves
and others healthy."

• £400,000 for mental health charity, Mind, to provide pupils worried about
their mental health with a confidential route to learn more about and seek
support
• £564,000 to the Royal College of Paediatrics to expand MindEd, the
online service that helps parents to understand children and young people’s
mental health issues
• £440,000 to provide specialist intervention for young people in schools,
supporting prevention and ensuring problems are tackled before they
escalate

Childcare and education minister,
Sam Gyimah, said: "Children’s lives
can be disrupted by poor mental
health, from stress and anxiety

91