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Health and Wellbeing

The Whole School Approach to Mental Health, Why it Matters, Getting Started

Start a whole school approach to mental health with the right staff and pupils on board from day one.

  • 15 minutes
  • 6 modules
  • 0.5 CPD hours
  • Certificate

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14 days free, then £70 a year or £7 a month.

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What you'll learn

  • Explain what a whole school approach to mental health looks like day to day
  • Use published evidence to show colleagues why the work matters now
  • Recruit a mental health team from all staff, and protect their wellbeing
  • Choose how pupils will be involved from the beginning
  • Plan basic training for all staff and deeper training for your team

About this course

A display board and an assembly each term won't change how a school talks about mental health. A real whole school approach reaches everyone in the building, from the canteen and the office to governors and visitors, and it starts with how you launch it.

You'll plan those first steps. That means making the case for why now, using published figures such as the Teacher Wellbeing Index so colleagues see the reason rather than another initiative. It means finding your team by opening it up to everyone (support staff often know more than they've had a chance to share), and looking after them when the work touches something personal. And it means deciding which pupils to involve and how.

You'll also sketch out training in two tiers: the basics for every member of staff, and more for the people who want to drive it forward.

  • For governors and mental health leads. Primary and secondary.

6 modules

Open in order

  1. Introduction

    1 min

  2. What is a WSA?

    3 min

  3. Why does it matter now?

    4 min

  4. Identifying who is best to help

    3 min

  5. Talking with students

    2 min

  6. Talking with Staff

    4 min