Mental Well-being Impact Assessment of Projects funded

Other students at the school
Teachers
People using the classrooms that look out over the garden.
MWIA report summaries
MWIA workshops
The MWIA toolkit presents evidence of how Control, Resilience and Community Assets,
Participation, and Social Inclusion affect mental well-being. Participants at the first workshop were
asked whether the Haven project had a positive or negative impact on aspects of these, and the
importance of that impact. They were then asked to look at their top priorities in more detail, and
suggest ways to improve them. The ones that they decided were of high importance and had a high
impact were:
MWIA Area Increasing Control Resilience Participation Inclusion
Key
Determinants
Opportunities for
self help
Knowledge &
ability to make
healthy choices
Skills & attributes
Having your say /
being heard
Physical
environment
Emotional
well-being
Learning &
development
Access to green
space and shared
public facilities
Sense of
belonging
Having a valued
role
Opportunities for
social contact
Social Networks Accessible &
acceptable
services
Trust & safety
Accepting & being
accepted
Trust others
Positive identities
Practical support
to enable
inclusion
In the second workshop, pupils looked at these aspects of the Haven project, and commented on
whether they thought the group had a positive or negative effect on them. They then suggested
ways to improve them.
Appraising the evidence
The researcher reviewed the published literature about the mental health of refugee and asylum
seeker children, gardening, greenspace, and physical activity. She assessed whether it was
consistent with the discussions in the workshops. The literature review confirmed the findings from
the workshop. It found evidence that spending time in a natural environment, gardening, and
physical activity are good for mental well-being. It highlighted the needs of refugee and asylum
seeker children, and confirmed that the approach taken by the Haven project is well-suited to
supporting the development and education of vulnerable pupils.
Recommendations
The following recommendations were developed to make the impact of the Haven project on mental
well-being as positive as possible.
Raise teachers’ awareness of the Haven project. Publicity of the Haven project, and in particular
awareness of the project among school staff, was raised as an issue in both the staff workshop and
the pupils’ workshop. Pupils felt that teachers sometimes thought they were lying to get out of
lessons. The teachers in the workshop were happy for pupils to leave lessons to go to the group,
however the teachers who chose to participate in the workshop are likely to be more aware of the
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