New guidance to help support student mental health

A new guide has been published to support staff and student mental health at schools and colleges across south-east England.

The guidance was developed by researchers at the University of Sussex in collaboration with Health Innovation Kent, Surrey, Sussex.

It has been produced in response to an increase in mental health cases in school-aged children, with NHS doctors recently warning there had been a sharp rise in the number attending A&E units in England in crisis.

Dr Kathryn Lester, from the University of Sussex, said the guidance came about after "a significant gap" was identified in the support for governors and trustees, who were often "navigating complex territory without clear guidance".

She said: "This resource gives them exactly that, with practical tools to move from good intentions around wellbeing to measurable impact."

According to the university, this means that while many schools already do wellbeing activities, governing boards can struggle to answer whether their approach is making a difference, or whether pupils, staff and families are benefitting.

They said this approach has been co-designed by governors themselves.

It is built around the Department for Education's Whole School and College Approach, a framework which embeds mental health and wellbeing into every education setting.

Becca Randell, associate director of Health Innovation Kent, Surrey, Sussex, said this resource gave governing boards "practical tools to strengthen their oversight of wellbeing and measure the impact of their efforts".

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