I AM VERY INTERESTED IN CHILDREN'S MENTAL WELLBEING AND NEW RESEARCH DONE ON THIS ISSUE, I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE THIS ARTICLE.
School-based mental health support results in positive outcomes for children
27 March 2012
A study of more than 18,000 children
across England found that embedding mental health support in schools as part of
the Targeted Mental Health in Schools
(TaMHS) programme led to greater improvements in self-reported behavioural
problems among primary pupils. The benefits were even more pronounced where
schools also provided pupils with self-help leaflets explaining how children
could help themselves if they were feeling stressed or troubled.
The three year longitudinal study
followed children in 25 local authorities across England and also found that
tools designed to improve communication between health and education
professionals (such as the Common Assessment Framework), good links between
schools and specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and
the provision of mental health information to pupils were all associated with
reductions in pupils’ difficulties in controlling aggression and anger in
secondary school.
These findings come from an
independent evaluation of TaMHS, led by UCL and
involving eight academic institutions and other organisations across the UK
(Universities of Manchester, Leicester, Durham, York and Glasgow, The Anna
Freud Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry and the National Institute for
Economic and Social Research).
Over the course of the project,
researchers tracked and analysed the progress of 18,235 children in 526
schools.
The TaMHS programme aimed to help
schools deliver targeted support to those with, or at risk of, mental health
problems. Between 2008 and March 2011,
£60 million was allocated across all local authorities in England
in order for them to develop additional provision of mental health support in
selected schools, including individual, group and whole-school interventions.
One in ten children in the UK has a clinically diagnosable mental health problem and
the authors of the report recommend intervening early as a key to managing
behavioural problems. “It may make sense to prioritise mental health work with
primary school pupils in relation to behavioural problems to have maximum
impact before problems become too entrenched,” says the report.
This report indicates that targeted help in primary schools has helped reduce behavioural problems and should continue.
Dr Miranda Wolpert
The report also suggests that
inter-agency working and improved relationships between secondary schools and
specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, as well as provision of
materials to help young people find and access support, should be prioritised.
Dr Miranda Wolpert of the UCL CAMHS
Evidence Based Practice Unit led the research. “This report indicates that
targeted help in primary schools has helped reduce behavioural problems and
should continue,” she says. “It also indicates the need to build on the good
work already happening across schools and the health services to ensure joined
up services and support for
