A toolkit for pupils’ mental health

More than half of all mental health issues are developed by the age of 14, which is why we at MTM are supporting the children’s mental health charity Happy Space UK, whose Chief Operating Officer Tegan Creedy explains the importance of providing schools with the resources they need to deliver a wellbeing education that supports young people and reassures their parents.

We are at a critical time for young people’s mental health, but with a meaningful approach and the right resources, we can turn the tide. ‘Prevention is better than cure’ and the aim of Happy Space UK is to prevent mental health problems from arising wherever possible through providing schools with the resources they need to give outstanding wellbeing education. We envisage a time where there is no mental health stigma and where every young person has the toolkit that they need to look after their mental health in the transition to adulthood and beyond.

High-quality resources

Children can be more easily reached at school than through any other public health or clinic-based intervention. However, as things stand, mental health education in UK schools – let alone with a focus on prevention – is patchy. Happy Space UK offers schools high-quality resources to support mental health education in schools – guidebooks, lesson plans and in-person or virtual workshops to schools across the UK for students aged 10 to 12, and 16 to 18.

The content is designed by wellbeing experts and medical practitioners and falls into five categories: Mind, Food, Body, Finance, and the Arts. We call these the ‘five pillars of mental wellbeing’ and they form the framework for all Happy Space UK resources.

Mental health book bank

Because every child should have access to these resources, Happy Space operate a ‘book bank’ – for every student an independent school buys our resources for, we give the same resources to a state school student. If an independent school wishes to, it can allocate its book bank books to a chosen state school.

Highly-rated

Happy Space UK’s resources reached over 17,000 students in 2021 and teachers rate them 9/10 for usefulness. There is evidence that students’ mental wellbeing literacy dramatically increases as a result of using Happy Space UK resources – for example, students’ understanding of the link between food and mental health has been shown to increase by 80% and students’ understanding of the link between finance and mental wellbeing by 94%.

MTM will be hosting a Charity Golf Day on 23 June 2022 with all proceeds benefiting Happy Space UK – contact us to reserve your place.

To find out more about Happy Space UK, email info@happyspace.org.uk. To make a donation, visit happyspace.org.uk and click the ‘support us’ button.