Mental health issues affecting young people require a radical solution, former deputy of Tes Ed Dorrell wrote this week. Recent research from Public First, at which Ed Dorrell is now a director, shows that young people, teenagers and children have experienced disproportionately high levels of mental health issues as a result of the pandemic.
Encouragingly, this has made youth mental health a mainstream issue Ed Dorrell argues. The general public is now talking about this issue in a way that was previously unthinkable, with parents increasingly as concerned about their children’s mental health as about academic progress.
Ed Dorrell went on to say that this is now an opportunity to overcome historical neglect, particularly around funding and support for NHS child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and that we now need to inject serious time, money and thinking into CAMHS and other adjacent services.
Throughout the pandemic, the need for greater attention to mental health and wellbeing in schools has been raised in Schools North East’s surveys and regular roundtable events with school leaders. In our survey this week looking at the return of students to school in the summer term, responses highlighted the difficulty for pupils in returning to regular routines, socialising, and reduced resilience and stamina.
In addition to mental health among students, staff wellbeing remains an important issue. Fortunately, this term has seen some improvement in terms of staff wellbeing, with almost 40% of responses saying that wellbeing was better now in comparison to the Spring term. A further 40% said it was about the same. While it is encouraging that wellbeing is for most not getting worse, this is from a low starting point, which was highlighted in our ‘state of the region’ survey in January. Mental health and wellbeing of both staff and students must be at the centre of any ‘recovery’ plan for schools.
Student and staff mental health and wellbeing is a core focus for Schools North East, especially as we continue to deal with the impact of the pandemic. Please join us next week for our annual Healthy MindED Conference, which will be held virtually on Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th May 2021. All delegates can access the event either ‘live’ or as a recording at their leisure. Book now.
