We take a look at the mental health training that school staff can undertake to help support those with mental health issues in their schools
Senior mental health leads training
The Department for Education is encouraging schools and colleges to identify a senior mental health lead who will have strategic oversight of their setting’s whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. School and college staff are not expected to, and should not, diagnose mental health conditions or perform mental health interventions.
Senior lead training gives senior leaders the knowledge and skills they’ll need to develop an effective whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing.
Benefits
This programme will help you to:
use your existing resources more effectively;
promote good mental health and wellbeing in your setting;
quickly identify individual pupils or students who need support with their mental health;
work effectively with local children and young people’s mental health services, including Mental Health Support Teams where they are established.
Eligibility
State-funded schools and colleges in England, including those in receipt of ESFA pre-16 revenue, high needs block or 16-to-19 programme funding are eligible to apply for a grant. Further information on eligible setting types is available in the conditions of grant. Independent settings with fee-paying pupils and students are not eligible for a grant but may access DfE-assured training independently.
Settings that claimed a grant in the 2021-22 financial year are not eligible to apply for further funding. Senior mental health lead training is not intended to help meet the specific needs of children and young people in early years settings or settings with learners aged over 18 years old.
Availability
Up to two-thirds of all eligible schools and colleges in England will have the opportunity to benefit from a grant to access quality assured senior mental health lead training by the end of the 2022-23 financial year. Between October 2021, and March 2022, more than 8,000 schools and colleges had claimed a training grant, including more than one-in-three primary schools and colleges, and over half of secondary schools.
Settings ready to further develop, or introduce, their whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing, with capacity to commence training before March 2023, are now encouraged to consult the guidance and arrange training. We aim to provide the opportunity for all state schools and colleges to access the training by 2025.
Get more information
Senior mental health leads can now search for, and book, a training course. This link – Senior mental health lead training – provides further information on how you can do this.
Training providers
Training providers interested in providing senior mental health lead training can find out more on Contracts finder.
Psychological first aid training
This training sets out how emergencies affect mental health, and what those who work with children, young people and families can do to help. This includes:
recognising the common signs of distress across different age groups;
being able to identify who might be at an increased risk.
Who is it for?
All school and college staff who help children and young people aged up to 25 years.
Features
The programme:
offers resources and content to teach young people about managing their mental health and wellbeing;
provides examples of good practice;
provides access to training resources and templates that you can customise.
Benefits
This resource will help you to:
support young people who have recently experienced an emergency or crisis;
offer training to all school or college staff who want it;
get access to a globally-accepted level of training that is recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Availability
Ongoing.
Time investment
One session of between one hour 30 mins and three hours.
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