Healthy Schools: mental wellbeing

The resources on this page can help you spot the signs of poor mental health in children and young people and provide support for those who need it.

Find all Healthy Schools resources here

Spotting the signs

• What's mental health? Check out this guide (external link) from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Young People.
• Noticing early signs is the first step to providing children and young people with the help they need as outlined by MindEd and Anna Freud:
  • Psychologically Informed First Aid (PDF, 194KB)

• This 4-page guide offers information on what to look out for:
  • Stress Distress Poor Mental Health (PDF, 187KB)

• For more in-depth information, you can watch this 29-min recording of this 'Noticing Signs and Symptoms of Mental Health Difficulties in children and young people’ webinar (external link) organised by the Mental Health NHS Trust (MHST).
  The webinar slides (x17 slides) are available to download from Google Drive (external link). 

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How to talk to children and young people

• We created a series of documents to support Emotionally Friendly Communication:
  • Overview: How and Why 
    • Emotionally friendly communication introduction (PDF, 230KB)

• Reduce conflict and stress
  • Emotionally Friendly Communication - Reduce Anxiety Conflict (PDF, 212KB)

• Encourage positive conversations
  • Emotionally Friendly Communication - Support Online Engagement (PDF, 196KB)
• If you're a primary teacher and want to normalise talking about mental health and wellbeing in your classroom but aren't sure where to start, Anna Freud has published this creative calendar (external link - PDF, 270KB) to use in lessons.
• Watch this 25-min recording of the MHST webinar, 'Talking to someone about their mental health’ (external link) and you can download the slides (x17 slides) Google Drive (external link).

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Building healthier habits

These Trailblazer short videos provide tips and understanding about the benefit of setting routines to promote mental wellbeing.

• For children and young people:
  

  Note for iPhone users and Youtube. There is a known bug with iOS and Youtube, Two buttons are read before the player but provide no functionality. We advise that you skip these to access the content.
• For families and teachers:
  

  Note for iPhone users and Youtube. There is a known bug with iOS and Youtube, Two buttons are read before the player but provide no functionality. We advise that you skip these to access the content.
• Explore School Zone's flexible teaching resources for primary school classes from Change4Life and be inspired by their mental wellbeing resources for secondary schools and Year 6. Find all the resources (external link).

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Feeling low?

• It's completely normal and healthy for children and young people to feel low and upset sometimes. Sadness is an important emotion for self-discovery and emotional wellbeing. Here are some strategies to try if talking about the issue does not help:
  • Low-Mood and Feeling Sad - Chums (PDF, 1.2MB)

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Free training

Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA) has produced an online version of its 2-day training (external link). Details have been sent out to EW leads.

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More resources

For further information and resources around resilience, wellbeing and mental health, please visit Haringey Anchor Approach.