Copyright huffingtonpost
A child psychologist has opened up about how she believes a relatively simple change in UK schools could better help children who are struggling with poor mental health. There is a mental health crisis not-so-quietly bubbling away among young people. It’s thought one in five children aged eight to 16 years old has a ‘probable mental disorder’ – a figure that has been steadily rising over the years. On top of this, waiting times for help and support can be lengthy. A report on children’s mental health services from 2022-23 found the average waiting time for mental health support was 35 days, but 40,000 children experienced a wait of over two years. With kids spending most of their waking hours there, schools have an opportunity to help children in their time of need – and Dr Margot Sunderland, child psychologist and director of Trauma Informed Schools UK, said they are “doing their best under enormous pressure”. But with limited funding and training, she said staff “are often left managing levels of distress they’ve never been trained for”. “Most schools have just one or two mental health leads, and many teachers receive no formal training in trauma or emotional regulation,” she added. What needs to change? Dr Sunderland, who has over 30 years’ experience working with young people and training staff in more than 6,000 schools, believes there is a lot of focus on mental health awareness, but not so much on “understanding” what children are going through. “For years, young people have been given resources asking questions like, ‘Why might drinking when you’re grieving be a bad idea?’. They already know that,” she said. “What they need is help to understand what happens to their minds and bodies when they experience loss, fear or rejection and to learn that these feelings will pass.” She continued: “At the moment, RSHE and wellbeing lessons treat emotions as intellectual topics, while teachers are told to keep a professional distance. But when a child’s mental health is suffering, they don’t need distance. “They need someone who can sit alongside them, help them make sense of what’s happening, and reassure them that their pain won’t last forever. Healing doesn’t happen at arm’s length.” Of course, plenty of teachers would argue that they simply don’t have the time and bandwidth to be doing this – especially when managing 30-odd pupils. In an op-ed for HuffPost UK, headteacher Lisa Boorman, who leads Queen’s Online School, said “expecting teachers to fill the gap [in mental health support] is pushing schools past breaking point”. “Planning and delivering lessons, marking work and getting pupils ready for exams are just part of the job,” she wrote. “Increasingly, teachers are also expected to spot mental health issues, support families in crisis, and keep children learning while they wait for specialist care.” Should all school staff members be given mental health training? To address the growing mental health crisis, the government is aiming to place specialist mental health support teams (MHSTs) in all schools in England by 2030. There are currently over 600 teams in operation. But Dr Sunderland believes every adult in school – not just teachers, but assistants and lunchtime supervisors – should receive basic trauma and mental health training. Similar to how some workplaces encourage staff and managers to have mental health first aid training. “When staff understand how stress and trauma affect behaviour, they can respond with empathy,” she said. Teachers are witnessing a decline in behaviour in schools. Perhaps unsurprisingly, teaching staff vacancies increased by 20% to 2,800 in November 2023 (up from 2,300 the year before). Sudden mood and behaviour changes can be a sign a pupil is struggling mentally. Dr Sunderland suggested there needs to be a shift in schools “from managing behaviour to understanding it”. “When staff see behaviour as communication, everything changes. School staff often say, ‘but we haven’t got time to attend to mental health on top of everything else’,” she said, acknowledging Boorman’s concerns. “Trauma Informed Schools finds the opposite is true – that training staff in active listening and empathic responses is time preserving, not time consuming.” Of course, training staff costs money (group training sessions can be up to £450) – and many schools find themselves cash-strapped. But having a basic understanding of mental health and trauma can also be beneficial. Dr Sunderland gave the example that in one school, teachers spent hours over several days trying to persuade a pupil sitting in the corridor to get back into class. “When a mental health specialist explored his worries through drawing, he revealed he was scared his mum might be harmed by her new boyfriend, something he’d seen happen before with a former partner,” she explained. “Once that fear was addressed, he returned to class calmly within half an hour.” Of course, schools aren’t, and shouldn’t be, solely responsible for a child’s mental health. Dr Sunderland noted the key here is partnership: “When schools and families work closely together sharing insights, children don’t just cope, they thrive.” Help and support: Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.ukRethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.
