FREE mental health and resilience training for schools

Mindapples has been promoting public mental health and wellbeing across the UK since 2008. Over the years they’ve received lots of similar feedback from adults “if only I was taught this at school”. The vision at Mindapples is of a world where taking care of our minds is natural and normal for everyone – and this should start with children and young people.  Since mental wellbeing and resilience became a statutory part of the curriculum, Mindapples want to help schools deliver on this promise to young people. Working with schools across the UK, they have developed a package of training and classroom resources to support teachers in delivering the new curriculum and developing an approach to mental wellbeing that can benefit the whole school community of staff, pupils and parents.  The training equips school staff with the awareness and understanding they need to take care of their own minds, and the tools to help them facilitate positive conversations about mental health and wellbeing with pupils, school communities and families, to build cultures which promote healthy habits and open conversations.

“It was a really well run, well-delivered, well-resourced and useful course which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I will be delivering training on this to our whole student body and I only hope I deliver it half as well as you did and inspire our staff to make a difference as you have me!"
Judith Firth Assistant Head Mayfield School Portsmouth

Mindapples recently took part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge and reached their fundraising target so can now provide their schools programme to more schools in the UK for FREE. They are now looking for schools to receive our training so if you would like more information on the programme, course dates and registration please visit here. If you have any questions please email Michele Worden at schools@mindapples.org.

Young Minds know how important it is for young people to have mental health advice that takes into account their faith, and cultural background. For young Muslims in particular, finding tailored support can be challenging.  For a young person who’s struggling, it can feel very difficult to talk about what you’re going through and reach out for support especially if you’re worried that the people around you won’t understand. But Young Minds want young people to know that they don’t have to struggle alone, and that they deserve to feel proud of who they are. Whoever they are. That’s why Young Minds have teamed up with Muslim Youth Helpline, and worked directly with young Muslims from across the UK, to create a range of faith friendly information and mental health advice.

Download Young Minds Faith Friendly resources here .

Younger generations now grow up entwined in the digital world, always just a few clicks away from the online galaxy of gaming and gambling. This training will:

• Increase awareness of advertising and sponsorship along with an understanding of in game purchases (microtransactions), social media and the blurred lines between the online / offline world
• Equip you with the knowledge and confidence to spot the signs of harm, start informed safeguarding conversations and signpost to support when needed.
• Enable free access to award winning complimentary, downloadable, and cross-curricular resources. These include lesson plans, schemes of work, PowerPoints, tutorials (all aligned to the PSHE curriculum from KS2-5), and over 100 youth activities as well as awareness sessions on topics such as age-appropriate content. You can view sample resources here

Register below for one of four FREE online workshops: Sessions are suitable for safeguarding staff, teachers, wellbeing staff, heads, support staff, youth workers and any staff member who may have direct contact or deliver to children and young people.

• Wednesday 15 March, 3:45pm–5:45pm: To Book Click Here
• Thursday 16 March, 4pm-6pm:  To Book Click Here
• Tuesday 28th March, 3:45pm – 5:45pm: To Book Click Here
• Wednesday 26th April, 3:45pm – 5:45pm: To Book Click Here

YGAM can also run private sessions (online or face to face) for your school should you have a date that suits better (minimum 12 delegates). These are also fully funded as part of our national programme, so free of charge.

DfE research has indicated that the UK still experiences many challenges regarding stigma and taboo relating to periods. In addition, learner's feedback has shown that there was still a significant amount of stigma relating to periods and asking for products.

Barnet Council’s Positive About Periods aims to support children and young women throughout the Borough by raising awareness of period poverty to address the stigma and making it ok to talk about periods. Positive About Periods aims to enable all children and young people of school age to have stigma free access to free period products in school and at home without shame. As part of their efforts, Barnet Council will be holding a Positive About Periods Conference in July. The Positive About Periods Conference will be a culmination of awareness raising campaigns in the Borough and its schools. The conference will include PSHE sessions for schools to deliver and a logo competition. The conference will offer an opportunity to celebrate what’s been achieved and to plan for future action

Positive about Periods Conference:

• Date and time: 11 July 2023; 10.30 – 2pm
• Venue: Stone X Stadium

To reserve your place, please RSVP using this Eventbrite link.

If you have any questions, queries or would like more details on the Positive About Periods campaign or conference, please send an email to: kevin.lukau@barnet.gov.uk

Brook offers sexual health and wellbeing services across Barnet to young people and professionals.

We offer the following services:

• Relationships and sex education in schools and community settings
• One-to-one early intervention programmes with young people
• Health promotion stalls and events
• Peer education programmes
• Trainings for professionals
• C card training and drop-ins

Please contact barnet.education@brook.org.uk to make an enquiry.

The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 came into force on Monday 27 February 2023.

Previously, people could enter a marriage or civil partnership at age 18, or 16 to 17 with parental or judicial consent.  The Act has raised the minimum marriage and civil partnership age to 18, removing all consent requirements.

The Act extends previous forced marriage legislation, so it is now an offence to carry out any conduct causing a child to marry before their eighteenth birthday, even if violence, threats or another form of coercion aren’t used.

Marriage and forced marriage are taught as part RSHE.
The DfE are asking schools to ensure that teaching now covers these points. Further forced marriage guidance is available here.

Universal help-seeking interventions in schools to support young people’s mental health have been widely used, but we know little about their initial impact and longer term follow-up. A new systematic literature review, carried out by researchers at the Evidence Based Practice Unit and collaborators, aims explore the impact of these types of programmes across different help-seeking constructs. While the researchers found some evidence of impact in relation to interpersonal attitudes towards help seeking for up to six months post-intervention, on the whole findings around other constructs for help seeking were mixed. Read the open access paper in full.

Sara Tough, Executive Director for Children’s Services at Norfolk County Council and Chair of the Family, Communities and Young People’s Policy Committee for the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) kicks off this new blog series by local children’s services leaders, demonstrating the innovations and best practice taking place across the country to achieve sustainable change for children and young people’s mental health. Her blog highlights how new partnerships and a shared vision have made her optimistic that we can close the gap between children’s needs and the support available to them in Norfolk and beyond. Read the blog here.

The UK Trauma Council (UKTC) have developed a series of free, accessible resources for educational communities, to support them in preparing for and managing critical incidents. The set of easy-to-use policy templates, staff training and lesson plans are guided by five evidence-based principles – to ensure children and young people feel safe, calm, connected, in control and hopeful – and are designed to help prepare for and manage the response to potentially traumatic events.   

Download the resources for free 

The UKTC are planning a full-day conference on Thursday 29 June to support educational professionals to create the best environment for recovery following a critical incident.  Register your interest for the conference

Young Minds have recently released a new guide for professionals and volunteers who work with young people in the community. It focuses on helping young people to build positive mental health and includes downloadable worksheets and instructions on how to use these activities in 1:1 and group settings. They hope you like it.
Check out the new resource.