Today’s teenagers are under unprecedented pressure on and off line. How are schools coping with the fallout as record numbers of young people are reported to suffer from mental health problems? Elizabeth Ivens reports...
BRITAIN’S teenagers are said to be “among the unhappiest in the world”, (The Times, February 2017), and teenage mental health problems are big news.
One in ten children aged between five and 16, and over a quarter of girls and young women aged between 16-24 are said to have mental health problems. So what is going on behind these shocking headlines?
In the last few weeks alone, child and teenage mental health has been in the spotlight more than ever: Prime Minister Theresa May has made a major speech on the subject, promising long overdue support for the beleaguered CAMHS (the NHS’ Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service), and younger members of the Royal Family have reiterated their commitment to raising its profile.
Prince Harry spoke out on Time to Talk Day last month, on behalf of the Heads Together charity he spearheads with his brother and sister-in-law, saying it showed “strength” to talk about mental health.
Many independent schools have been quietly doing just that: talking about, identifying and tackling some of the causes of mental health problems and looking at ways that pupils can build emotional resilience.
They have also been in the vanguard of looking at mental health from a different viewpoint: prevention is better than cure – and mental health provision has almost become synonymous with what schools are doing to promote wellbeing.
Charlotte Avery, Head of St Mary’s School, Cambridge and President of the Girls’ Schools Association, said the school prioritises girls’ safety and mental wellbeing above “everything else”: “Prevention – doing what we can to prevent occurrences of mental ill-health arising – is also key, as cures are not guaranteed, and intervention is only effective in 50% of cases.”
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Esta historia es de la edición Spring 2017 de Independent School Parent - Senior Edition.
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Today’s teenagers are under unprecedented pressure on and off line. How are schools coping with the fallout as record numbers of young people are reported to suffer from mental health problems? Elizabeth Ivens reports...
