Promoting positive mental health and developing resilience
We need to meet the emotional, social and psychological needs of children. Whilst we can respond to individual children, if we want work in a preventative manner, a whole school approach needs to be taken.
What works in promoting social and emotional well-being and responding to mental health problems in schools? Advice for Schools and Framework Document (National Children’s Bureau)
Adopt whole school thinking
Prioritise learning and staff development
Develop supportive policy
Implement targeted programmes and interventions (including curriculum)
Implement targeted responses and identify specialised pathways
Connect appropriately with approaches to behaviour management
Teach about mental health and well-being
Teaching Resources are available from the PSHE Association website, both for primary and secondary schools:
For free resources to support children’s academic resilience see the Young Mind’s website.
A self-assessment and improvement tool for school leaders, A whole school framework for emotional well being and mental health is also now available from the National Children’s Bureau.
Resilience is the process of effectively negotiating, adapting to, or managing significant sources of stress or trauma. Assets and resources within the individual, their life and environment facilitate this capacity for adaptation and ‘bouncing back’ in the face of adversity. Across the life course, the experience of resilience will vary. (Gill Windle, 2010)
