Young Minds, the UK's leading charity fighting for children and young people's mental health is campaigning for funding from the government to create a network of early support hubs across the country, which would provide young people somewhere to go when they first start to struggle with their mental health.
We know that waiting times for our young people to access support services such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are painfully slow, with demand never been higher due to Covid lockdowns and the pressures of social media. As teachers and parents it is painful to watch young people suffering while they wait for the support they deserve.
We fully support Young Minds campaign here at Future Action. We also know there is an alternative solution to this problem. Innovative schools are using their Covid 19 catch up money to build early intervention proactive wellbeing programmes for students within their PE departments to reduce the chances of young people suffering from anxiety and depression, and feeling confident and happier instead.
The following 4 questions will help you work out whether your school has a proactive wellbeing programme:
How do you identify students who are struggling with their mental health?
Is it proactive or reactive?
What self care strategies do you give your students so that they can manage their mental fitness before issues emerge?
How do you create whole school impact on this issue?
If you are struggling to answer these questions positively and are in need of support to create a programme, why not reach out to us and book a consultation call to discuss your school's needs.
We partner with a growing number of forward thinking schools to implement our ‘9 step building mental fitness road map’ that gives inspirational school leaders a proven method to transform student and staff wellbeing across the whole school within 90 days. This reduces the chances of pupils suffering from anxiety and depression in the future so that they can thrive academically and personally instead.
In Stage 1: we develop awareness of what building mental fitness is and how we can identify those students who are struggling with their mental health but sneaking under the radar to create a proactive culture around student wellbeing.
Stage 1 - Steps:
1 - Intro to mental fitness -🧘♀️
2 - Identification - 👁
3 - Self-awareness -🎗
In Stage 2: we equip students & staff with a toolbox of self care strategies to build confidence & kindness, use worries as a positive, raise aspirations, develop healthy habits and how to access the happiness chemicals.
Stage 2 - Steps:
4 - Confidence and Kindness - 💪
5 - Worries As A Positive - 🧠
6 - Habits 🗓
7 - Happiness 😃
In Stage 3: we show staff how to embed the programme across the whole school community in 7 different ways to have maximum impact.
Stage 3 - Steps:
8 - Whole School Impact - 🏫
9 - Next Steps
The results have been excellent with happier young people and staff, calmer behaviour across our schools, increases in progress and attainment and attracting new pupils to our schools because of the priority they give to student wellbeing.
Paul Collin, Headteacher at City Academy Norwich, said "It’s crucial, now more than ever to consider how schools and colleges are developing both the academic and the wellbeing of every young person.
At City Academy Norwich we place a core emphasis on every child having the same opportunity in life. Being mentally fit, happy, energised and productive are key attributes that everyone can benefit from having.
Our work with Future Action and the Building Mental Fitness programme has allowed us to ensure we consider a proactive approach to these areas, working with all our young people to become the very best versions of themselves and achieve future successes."
Here at Future Action, we have partnered with schools across the world in a range of settings from Primary to Secondary, International Schools to Special Schools to embed these transformational strategies and enable leaders to have a whole school impact.
If you would like to join this movement of inspirational teachers but are not sure where to start, then the Building Mental Fitness course teaches you and your staff how to set up an award winning program with easy to follow videos and editable resources to save you hours of time planning and creating resources.
Book a call for a friendly conversation so we can discuss your needs!
To find out more about Young Minds campaign to fund the hubs, click here.
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