With one in six children aged five to sixteen being identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2021 (Young Minds, 2023), increasing from one in nine in 2017, mental health awareness is high on the agenda of education providers and policy makers.
This is one of the most complex challenges educators, parents, policy-makers, and advocacy organisations face, and although there are no easy solutions, there is a groundswell of support and some excellent research and practical action taking place. These seek to create and support a range of positive impacts and outcomes enabling young people to thrive and flourish now and in the future.
Join us for the next in our series of RSA Innovative Education Network (IEN) online events where we will explore the issues in depth and showcase examples of projects and initiatives designed to support young people’s mental health and wellbeing in education and their wider lives.
As with all IEN events everyone is welcome. We’ll be hearing from expert speakers with a range of perspectives and there will be opportunities for discussion and the sharing of ideas and best practices with the wider network.
Our speakers
- Neil Humphrey
Neil Humphrey is the Sarah Fielden Chair in Psychology of Education at the Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester, UK. #BeeWell is an innovative programme that blends academic research and youth-led change to ‘pivot the system’ as a means to address this major societal problem. In this talk, Neil will provide an overview of progress to date, focusing on key insights from the data (60,000 young people in nearly 190 schools surveyed thus far) and actions taken as a result.
- Roisin McEvoy
Roisin McEvoy is the Head of Schools Training and National Programmes at the Anna Freud Centre. The Anna Freud Centre’s vision is for all schools to be mentally healthy. One of the ways they support schools is through the 5 steps tool. In this talk, Roisin will explore some of the challenges schools are facing; explain how the 5 steps tool works and share examples of the ways that schools are putting the mental health and wellbeing of students and staff at the heart of everything they do.
- Ellie Whitlock
Ellie Whitlock is the Senior Policy and Public Affairs Officer at YoungMinds, where she leads on education policy and influences government on issues that matter most to young people's mental health. Ellie will speak about the work YoungMinds does to ensure that no young person feels alone with their mental health, along with the current policy environment and what young people want to change in schools to improve their mental health and wellbeing.
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