it in schools What can school and home do to promote good mental - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

• What is mental health and why the focus on

it in schools

• What can school and home do to promote

good mental health (Protective factors)

• Where to go for guidance or support

• 50% of mental health illnesses begin before

the age of 14

• 10-20% of adolescents may experience a

mental health problem in any given year

• Changing complexities and challenges of

digital world

• National area of focus

Continuum of mental health Continuum of physical health

• Good relationships
• High self esteem

• Parents
• Nurturing, caring, rule

enforcing relationship with a parent carer or adult figure

• Peers
• Social connectedness

with a supportive peer group

• Problem solving
• Ability to problem

solve and communicate

• Passion
• An interest, hobby or

skill that the child highly values in themselves

• Self esteem is important as it increases

resilience and bounce-ability for bumps in the road

• If we feel good about ourselves we are less

likely to feel overwhelmed.

• More likely to ask for help when we need it.

Self-esteem is the result of experiences that help a child feel capable, effective, and accepted. Children with higher self esteem make friends more easily and find social situation easier. Good friendships and family relationships are a key protective factor.

• feel valued and

accepted

• feel confident that they

can do what's expected

• feel proud of a job well

done

• think good things

about themselves

• feel prepared for

everyday challenges

• feel self-critical and are

hard on themselves

• feel insecure, or not as

good as other children

• focus on the times they

fail rather than the times they succeed

• lack confidence
• doubt their ability to

do well at things

Give children responsibility.

Recognise and celebrate the uniqueness of every individual

• Use purposeful and targeted praise.
• Praise effort and persistence (rather than

achievement) - links with growth mind-set.

• Time with significant adults
• Language they need to talk about mental

health

• Child friendly language to use for mental

health VIDEO LANGUAGE OF MENTAL HEALTH FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

• Make conversations about mental health a normal part of

life

• Some ways to start a conversation about feelings might be:

– “How are you feeling at the moment?” – “You don’t seem your usual self. Do you want to talk about it?” – “Do you fancy a chat?” – “I am happy to listen if you need a chat?”

• Ask open questions
• Stay calm with the feelings that arise
• Offer empathy rather than solutions

The Nothing but the The whole

• good grasp of basic knowledge and skills
• reliability, responsibility and resilience
• ability to build and maintain relationships
• ability to work collaboratively in a team
• creativity and problem solving skills

IoD Conference 2015

• …which reinforces the development of the whole child
• …also the partnership with parents recognising these as
• ur common aims

• “Knowledge and skills have “ever diminishing shelf-

lives”: the knowledge and skills needed in the future may not even be known at the time a person attends school, so institutions cannot limit themselves to the transmission of set content. Instead, they need to promote flexibility, openness to new ideas, ability to adapt and courage in the face of the unexpected.”

Lai E and Viering, M (1012). Assessing 21st Century Skills: Integrating Research Findings

NEVER GIVES UP

• School wide development of language and

literacy around well being

• School can support you: teachers, Inclusion

Team, HSLW and ELSA Early referrals for help to professionals

• GP