The Designated Mental Health Lead role is new, following on from the recent green paper on children’s mental health (Future in Mind, DFE, DoH, 2015). Schools have a massive role as ‘first responders’ in prevention, identification, early support and working with external agencies to help children access the right support at the right time - so the role can feel overwhelming! Here are Learning & Wellbeing Psychology’s 3 top tips for being a successful Designated Mental Health Lead.
1) Everything is controversial in Mental Health!
It’s OK to be unsure - inform yourself of the many debates and differences of opinion. If professionals and researchers have very different ideas, then Mental Health Leads are going to feel confused! As a society, we struggle to make sense of the difficulties and experiences that we have as humans. The media gives us the message that strong emotions of fear or sadness, unusual beliefs, or sensing things that other people don’t are caused by genes or chemical imbalances in the brain. However, this evidence is hotly debated and many people disagree with these ideas! Furthermore, children tell us they don’t want their difficulties in growing up to be medicalised.