iMHARS – Islington Mental Health and Resilience in Schools

Islington has developed a framework to support schools’ thinking in relation to mental health and resilience: iMHARS (Islington mental health and resilience in schools).  www.islingtoncs.org/imhars   iMHARS describes a whole-school approach to mental health and resilience. The iMHARS framework helps schools to understand the seven aspects (components) of school life that can support and contribute to pupils’ positive mental health and resilience.

The seven components have been distilled from a wide body of evidence and have been developed and tested in Islington schools.

Schools are supported to use iMHARS to research their current practice; identify where things are working well, areas for improvement and next steps. Schools are encouraged to reflect on what support is in place to meet the needs of all pupils; for the most vulnerable pupils, for those at risk, and preventative measures for all pupils.  To date 25 schools have been supported to carry out a collaborative audit with the mental health lead in the health and wellbeing team (part of the school improvement service).