For young people experiencing mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression, telling their friends, family and teachers can be incredibly hard.
But it’s not just students who struggle to talk openly about mental illness. Figures published by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) earlier this year found that more than a third of school and college staff have noticed a rise in mental health issues among colleagues in the past year. But 68% kept them a secret from their bosses.
While teachers worry about mental health issues being seen as “a sign of weakness”, a survey by Time to Change found that one in four students experiencing mental health problems did not want to go to school, college or university because they were worried about what people would say.
Creating an open culture around mental illness and challenging discrimination is vital. So, how can schools help change attitudes? Corelli college in south-east London has tried to facilitate a more open discussion by conducting a wellbeing audit and training peer mentors. It’s one of many ways that schools are using pupils are driving a more postivie attitude towards mental health.
The Teacher Support Network advises that every school should have a robust policy in place to make sure they respond appropriately to a teacher experiencing mental illness. Julian Stanley, chief executive of the Teacher Support Network, told the Guardian’s Teacher Network that this should not be viewed as a fluffy topic.
Join us Wednesday 3 December from 5.30pm-7.30pm to discuss how schools can combat mental health stigmafor staff and students. We’ll be exploring:
- Why it’s important to tackle mental health stigma.
- What work is currently underway to make sure schools are safe environment for both pupils and teachers.
- Interesting schemes schools have developed to tackle discrimination around mental illness.
- Practical advice for teachers on how to be more open.
The chat takes place in the comments thread below. Comments are open now so please feel free to post your questions and views early. Alternatively, you can join us during the time noted above and follow all the action on @GuardianTeach.
Expert panel
Pooky Knightsmith is mental health and wellbeing lead at the PSHE Association. She is a trustee at the Kidstime foundation, which provides information and support for children and young people who are the carers of parents who have a mental illness.
Alice Hoyle is a PSHE advisory teacher who works for various national organisations on all aspects of PSHE. She noted the lack of resources around mental health for young children, so she has been developing her own. Her first book, out next year, Pretend Friends, explains schizophrenia to primary aged children.
Laverne Antrobus is a consultant child psychologist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. She works with children, their families and school staff supporting them to think about a range of issues. Antrobus has presented programmes for the BBC including Growing Children and Little Angels.
Bernard Trafford is headteacher of Newcastle Royal grammar school. He was previously head of Wolverhampton grammar school and was Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference chairman from 2007 to 2009. He is a trustee of Schools NorthEast and is a Leading Thinker for the National Education Trust.
Catherine Roche is chief executive of Place2Be, a school based mental health and emotional wellbeing services reaching 90,000 children. Originally a secondary and adult education teacher, Roche has been involved with Place2Be since 1996.
Jo Loughran is head of Time to Change’s children and young people programme.
Sue Baillie is pastoral director of Newcastle Royal grammar school. She is particularly interested in the development of resilience and helping to reduce mental health issues through character education. Her school recently hosted a major national conference on this theme called Out of Character.
Mick Cooper is professor of counselling psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton. Cooper has led research in the UK on the outcomes and process of school-based counselling and was clinical lead for Counselling MindEd.
Mina Fazel works as a research fellow at the Oxford University Department of Psychiatry.
Janice Cahill is headteacher at Pendlebury Centre.
