Like many countries, the UK has a mental health crisis among its young people. At the same time, schools are uniquely placed to promote health as well as support children when they need it. I felt there was an untapped potential of schools to do great things when it comes to mental health of young people.

So, we established Minds Ahead UK and set about providing resources – such as guides, training and events – that enable school leaders, teachers and support staff to provide a more holistic approach towards mental health. This is about enabling schools to be better at supporting children’s development by changing the culture as well as the practice.

I found that schools were fully on board with this agenda; they see the need first hand. Health agencies were also supportive as they know they cannot reach all children, so having schools play a more effective role helps everyone.

Working collaboratively is key to making a difference. We formed a partnership with Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University. Together, we formed the UK’s first university centre for mental health in schools. With this centre, we created a ‘Mental health in schools award’, which is a school improvement support programme now used by over 1,000 schools in the UK that runs a set of training programmes and have held several successful annual conferences. We also devised a master’s programme in school mental health leadership, which is the first in the world and is now in its sixth year.

We are looking to have more Maltese educators join our third cohort of our School Mental Health Specialist master’s programme

As a result of these projects and our approach, we were commissioned by the Department for Education in England to quality assure all the mental health leadership training under their government scheme.

In addition to this, we have developed a Level 2 foundation programme for those seeking to learn more about mental health in schools and a peer mentoring programme for 14- to 18-year-olds so that they too can leave with a qualification in mental health practice. Alone these can make a big difference, but together they transform the culture within the school. 

We have also done other work such as formulate a curriculum on resilience for young people, which is now used in UK schools, as well as the national conferences and workshops, and informs local mental health strategies local authorities in the UK.

Like many other countries, the UK has recognised that mental health in schools is a key component of the overall approach towards mental health and supporting young people in general. In recent years, there has been a big focus on supporting schools to be better at mental health and well-being practices.

There are several initiatives in the UK; however, the key starting point of these is having an agreed ‘mental health in school framework’, which sets the parameters of what schools are expected to do to support mental health and gives clear direction to school leaders, teachers, staff, parents and students, so that they know the role of the school when it comes to mental health, as well as what the school is not expected to do. In addition to this, the Department for Education has said it expects every school in England to have a senior mental health leader employed by 2025.

This mental health leader will have received training so they are aware of how to perform their role effectively, and given support and guidance around that.

To support this, schools have been given a grant to pay for an approved training course so they access quality training.

Much like other countries, the well-being of school leaders, teachers and support staff is a massive issue in the UK. The UK has generated a staff charter to try to improve teacher well-being; however, there is some way to go in this area.

Meanwhile, in Malta, we recently completed our second annual conference on mental health in schools in Malta, and, for the last two years, we have had Maltese educators join our School Mental Health Specialist master’s programme. We are looking to have more Maltese educators join our third cohort this September. In addition, we have had educators from Malta join our Level 2 award, the Foundation Programme in School Mental Health.

All of this is possible thanks to the excellent partnership we have with Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph School, Paola, and its headmaster, Kenneth Vella, who has been instrumental in bringing these new qualifications and opportunities to the attention of educators in Malta.

We are engaged in further discussions to hopefully extend this, so that Maltese educators can get high-quality training and qualifications regarding mental health in schools.

Find out more about the qualifications available to Maltese educators by e-mailing info@mindsahead.org.uk.

Dean Johnstone is CEO of Minds Ahead UK.