Developing a Mentally Healthy School

We have all seen the statistics and even had first-hand experiences of supporting children with Mental Health concerns. More and more emphasis has been put on schools to be the first responders in supporting children’s mental health. Often schools are encouraged to attend specific courses such Mental Health First Aider trainer which certainly raises the profile of Mental Health and helps staff recognise signs however doesn’t necessarily give all staff the skills to support mental health in a systemic and proactive way. 

The recent EEF report on Social Emotional Learning talks about the importance of having whole school approaches to supporting children’s mental health, levelling the playing field for all and not just waiting for signs to appear. I, like many Senior Leaders in schools have had the challenging task of finding an approach that would work for the school. During the session, you will hear about a whole school approach called RULER created by Yale University in the USA. RULER is used in hundreds of schools across the USA and has a longitudinal study of more than 30 years, demonstrating a positive impact on Mental Health. RULER has now been adapted and trialled here in the United Kingdom and is incredibly successful.