Well-Being: promoting mental health in schools

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Specific programmes and what they involveA selection of other notable mental healthpromotion programmes are as follows:MindMatters – Australia (all years)MindMatters is funded by the AustralianGovernment and takes a whole-school approachto mental health and well-being, which focuseson the entire school community as well as theschool environment. The approach is influencedby the WHO model for school mental healthpromotion. A survey of Australian schoolsshowed that MindMatters was used in some wayby over two-thirds of schools surveyed and wasa key resource in 18% of schools. 40MindMatters helps schools and theircommunities to:create a positive climate of mental healthand wellbeing;be pro-active in the promotion of mentalhealth and wellbeing for all students; andsupport prevention and early interventioninitiatives for young people with mentalhealth and wellbeing challenges.The programme is facilitated by a CD-ROM andbooklet, first published in 2000. The threedimensions of the MindMatters approach are:school ethos and environment;curriculum: teaching and learning; andinternal and external partnerships andservices.Gatehouse Project – Australia (all years)The European Network of Health PromotionSchools produced a booklet called Models ofhealth promoting schools in Europe. 41 Thebooklet contains information and learninggathered over ten years. The GatehouseProject 42 is a whole-school approach which has40 Ibid.41 http://www.schoolsforhealth.eu/upload/ModelsofhealthpromotingschoolsinEurope.pdf42 http://www.rch.org.au/gatehouseproject/about/indexadapted the models of this document andincluded them in their strategy. The GatehouseProject operates at the following levels:classroom (teaching and learningenvironment and relationships) – feelingof connectedness;whole school (policies, programs,practices of the school) – ethos of theschool; andlinks with the community (school, home,community organizations) – how schoolmight strengthen links with thecommunity to increase sense ofconnectedness.FRIENDS for life – various countries (7-16years)FRIENDS for Life is a childhood anxietyprevention programme acknowledged by theWHO. The programme is currently used inschools and clinics in Australia, New Zealand,Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany,Finland, the Netherlands, the United States,Mexico, Norway, and Portugal. 43The programme aims to build resilience inyoung people and help them cope with andmanage anxiety. The programme is aimed atchildren aged 7-11 years and youth aged 12-16years.The effectiveness of FRIENDS has beenshown in several Australian studies as well as inthe United States, United Kingdom andCanada. 44FRIENDS is a universal programme whichconsists of ten sessions and two boostersessions. The programme takes place in classtime, avoids labelling children and is found to beas effective when run by teachers as.cfm?doc_id=17643 http://www.friendsinfo.net/44 http://www.friendsinfo.net/downloads/FRIENDSAbstractsBooklet.pdf10
clinicians. 45 The following steps describe howthe initiative works: 46Step 1 The school selects which yearlevel they want FRIENDS to beintroduced (e.g. ages 10–12 or 15–16)and adds the program to its yearcurriculum.Step 2 The school purchases programmanuals for the teachers responsible forthe year level selected.Step 3 These teachers are given asimple 1 day group-training sessionprovided by a Pathways Health andResearch Centre accredited FRIENDStrainer.Step 4 The school then orders thenumber of workbooks required (one foreach child) and collects the money fromthe parents, or arranges for parents tobuy the books from the school‟s usualtextbook supplierStep 5 The school encourages parentsto become involved with the program byattending optional parent sessions whichcan be run by a teacher using theprogram manual.Social and emotional aspects of learning(SEAL) – England (all years)SEAL is “a comprehensive, whole-schoolapproach to promoting the social and emotionalskills that underpin effective learning, positivebehaviour, regular attendance, staffeffectiveness and the emotional health and wellbeingof all who learn and work in schools.” 47National Strategies report that it is currentlybeing implemented in around 90% of primaryschools and 70% of secondary schools inEngland. 4845 http://www.friendsinfo.net/downloads/FRIENDSintrobooklet.pdf46 Ibid.47 https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR049.pdf48 Ibid.SEAL is designed to promote thedevelopment and application to learning ofsocial and emotional skills that have beenclassified under the five domains proposed inGoleman‟s (1995) model of emotionalintelligence. These are: 49Self-awareness;Self-regulation (managing feelings);Motivation;Empathy; andSocial skills.At the school level, SEAL is characterised bythe following principles: 50Clear planning focused on improvingstandards, behaviour and attendance;Building a school ethos that provides aclimate and conditions to promotesocial and emotional skills;All children are provided with plannedopportunities to develop and enhancesocial and emotional skills;Adults are provided with opportunitiesto enhance their own social andemotional skills;Staff recognise the significance ofsocial and emotional skills to effectivelearning and to the well-being of pupils;Pupils who would benefit fromadditional support have access to smallgroup work;There is a strong commitment toinvolving pupils in all aspects of schoollife;There is a strong commitment toworking positively with parents andcarers; andThe school engages well with otherschools, the local community, widerservices and local agencies (NationalStrategies SEAL Priorities, 2009-2011).49 Ibid.50 https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR049.pdf11
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