Supporting children with their emotional wellbeing and mental health is a growing priority for health services and for schools.
To support this, Healthy London Partnership (HLP) has developed a toolkit to support schools and undertaken a mapping exercise as part of the Mental Health in Schools Project to find out more about the extent of services available within schools to support children and young people with their emotional wellbeing and mental health. The project is a joint enterprise between the Greater London Authority and the Healthy London Partnership.
Additionally, HLP has worked with Young Minds’ Amplified programme to engage with young Londoners to see what support they would like to see in schools in the future.
Mental Health in Schools Toolkit
Healthy London Partnership has developed an online toolkit to provide further support for schools and commissioners. It has been developed in partnership with the Greater London Authority. We encourage school leaders and staff, health care professionals and commissioners to use the toolkit for a wide range of information and guidance on how to promote emotional wellbeing and mental health within schools.
Mental Health in Schools Mapping Exercise findings
The mapping exercise was undertaken over the summer of 2018 through CCGs, Local Authorities and Mental Health Provider Trusts. We are extremely grateful for all of the assistance that we had in compiling the information. The overview report provides information about the content of the reports, along with a summary of mental health services in schools in London:
- In the majority of areas that submitted a response, there is evidence of a considerable range of activity to support emotional wellbeing and mental health within schools.
- The nature of this activity varies considerably between boroughs. There are a wide range of initiatives, sometimes within the same geographical area.
- There is a variation in the level of knowledge and awareness of services provided and commissioned by schools within the CCG and Local Authority
- The commissioning arrangements remain complex, particularly at the lower ranges of intervention
- Many initiatives are at early stages in their evaluation of effectiveness
- There is limited data about the numbers of CYP who are currently accessing services through schools and colleges.
The report also makes a number of recommendations for future action including developing commissioning guidance for schools and greater collaboration between clinical commissioning groups and local authorities.
Insights on young people’s perspectives on school mental health support in London
As part of the Mental Health in Schools Project, Young Minds worked with Healthy London Partnership on a consultation exercise to gather young people’s views about what support they wish to see available in schools.