It’s now estimated that 3 children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health disorder or issue. If a child or young person has an emotional need, it can significantly impact their academic achievements, levels of progress and social interactions with their peers and adults. Early intervention and support are critical if these learners are to feel well-informed and able to talk about and manage their emotional disorder, anxiety or concerns.
Recognising that an anxious or angry pupil will not learn, this course aims to provide educators with the tools and language to help a learner thrive. You will learn about national guidance and the governments push towards mental health and wellbeing provision in schools. You will also learn how to foster a whole school ethos to mental health and explore practical tools and strategies to improve the outcomes for children who need mental health support.
This course responds to the information needs of the whole community centred around supporting the child/young person with mental health needs. You will learn how to assess the needs of a learner with mental health needs and go on to develop a support plan consisting of SMART goals and interventions, which you will implement and later review to determine how well it has met the learner’s specific developmental needs.
The target age range is compulsory education (4-18 years), but the course may benefit those in early years settings too. Parents and carers benefit from raised awareness of their child’s needs. Advisory teachers, therapists and educational psychologists gain access to evidence-based CPD resources that can be used to strengthen capacity in their local authority and schools. Schools can use this course to train individuals or groups of teachers and teaching support staff as part of a school’s improvement plan or a whole-school initiative. NQTs/RQTs also build a secure knowledge of the graduated approach at the start of their career.
We recommend you also watch our SEND Practice Webinar on Supporting Wellbeing and Mental Health in Schools
Our course is structured into four comprehensive sections. Click on the section headings to explore the content within each section.
Develop essential knowledge about mental health and wellbeing, including key concepts, theoretical models, and the prevalence of common mental health disorders in educational contexts.
- Main objectives
- What do we mean by mental health and wellbeing?
- Mental health and wellbeing in national policy and curriculum frameworks
- Theoretical models of mental health and wellbeing
- Prevalence and characteristics of common mental health disorders
- Trauma and its impact on developing brains
- Self-harm and suicide risk: warning signs and responses
- Mental health needs of pupils with disabilities
- Staff mental health and wellbeing
- Section summary
Learn how to assess and identify mental health and wellbeing needs using appropriate tools and frameworks within educational settings.
- Main objectives
- A framework for supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools
- Whole school ethos
- Social and emotional learning (SEL)
- Assessing social and emotional learning
- Being aware
- Wellbeing surveys and questionnaires
- Examples of assessment to gain a picture of wellbeing in a particular cohort
- Identifying individuals with mental health issues
- Examples of assessment to identify individuals with mental health issues
- Some freely available assessment resources
- Section summary
Explore evidence-based approaches and strategies to support mental health and wellbeing at whole-school, group, and individual levels.
- Main objectives
- Some whole school approaches
- Growth Mindset
- Strengths-based approaches
- Positive psychology
- Resilience
- Mindfulness
- Trauma informed practice
- Evaluating the effectiveness of strategies or interventions
- Examples of assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions
- Not for profit organisations providing support
- Local services
- The team around the child
- Section summary
Examine real-world examples that demonstrate how the principles and strategies covered in the course can be applied effectively in educational settings.
- Case study: Mental health - in our own words
- Case study: Tier 3 Interventions and support
- Case study: Using a worry scale
Course learning outcomes
On successful completion of the course, you will be able to:
- identify the main types of mental health disorder and their potential impact on pupil outcomes
- explain the relationship between mental health and disability
- summarise the place of social and emotional learning in the curriculum
- present the significance of staff mental health and wellbeing
- describe specific approaches and tools that schools can adopt to monitor and support pupil wellbeing
- determine when to seek further information and support from a variety of sources
- develop a conceptual framework for supporting mental health in schools where pupils and teachers can thrive
- create and test your own ‘whole school approach’ action plan