Mental health is a big topic. It covers everything from children in your class with specific mental health and behavioural issues, to teaching a lesson on mental health awareness, to things that seem related like anxiety about gender. Oh, and then there is your own mental health to manage as well!
This autumn’s blog is written by Dr Rob Waller, a Consultant Psychiatrist in Edinburgh and one of the Directors of the Mind and Soul Foundation. Short sections below introduce the topic area with links for more reading if wished.
Cultural Anxiety – Why is everyone anxious right now?
How many children in your classroom / youth group have a mental health issue / diagnosis / self-identified concern? The answer may well be ‘most of them’. Whilst we still need to deal with each child as an individual and seek medical help when appropriate, these two articles will be of interest to Christian teachers who want to understand the recent rise in mental health symptoms, how it relates to our changing culture and what the role of the church is. The ‘big idea’ is that the rise in anxiety symptoms should be like a canary in a coalmine – alerting us to a more serious problem.
1) Cultural Anxiety – the Canary in the Coal Mine – part 1: https://www.mindandsoulfoundation.org/Articles/663532/Mind_and_Soul/Articles/Anxiety_The_Canary_in_the_Coal_Mine_Part_I.aspx
2) Cultural Anxiety – the Canary in the Coal Mine – part 2: https://www.mindandsoulfoundation.org/Articles/663533/Mind_and_Soul/Articles/Anxiety_The_Canary_in_the_Coal_Mine_Part_II.aspx
Teaching on Mental Health Awareness and Related Topics
It’s the weekly time for a session on Wellbeing and you want to do something on mental health awareness. Well, actually, you would love someone else to come and do it but no-one is available. You know you are not expected to be an expert, but there must be a place you can get some ideas.
1) Be Headstrong (a charity run between YouthScape and the Mind and Soul Foundation) have lots of resources you can share with children before the session or play in the classroom. Here is one about managing exam stress: https://www.beheadstrong.uk/stories/how-to-keep-your-cool-during-exam-season-selfcare
2) ‘A Mind of Their Own’ is a recent book from Christian charity Care for the Family that covers a wide range of topics and also has supporting online resources. Each chapter could be adapted into a lesson plan: https://www.careforthefamily.org.uk/courses/courses-for-parents/a-mind-of-their-own-stream/
Managing Mental Health Issues and Behaviour in the Classroom
Having a child with additional needs in your classroom is challenging – you often feel out of your depth and don’t have additional support. Some children in this category will have formal diagnoses and funding for additional support, but the reality is that most will be pre-diagnosis [perhaps on a long CAMHS waiting list] or need to be managed with the general pool of staff available.
1) In this video, I speak about how CAMHS services work, why the waiting lists can be long and how to access related forms of help: https://youtu.be/XQP3dAPzLUE
Whilst waiting for a formal diagnosis to be given, if you clearly see the issues, then discuss this with your line manager / guidance department and see what small things you could start doing now. They could be similar to the things you might do after a diagnosis and might not be resource-intensive. It is possible to do this in a way that still seems fair to the other children and without applying labels that have not been confirmed.
2) Could you partner with a local church to bring in some local volunteer resource? In this article, Dr Kate Middleton describes such a scheme in Hitchin. It does not need to be as grand as this – you can start with something small. There will be questions about and limits on the degree to which this will be ‘Christian’ but the need for help can help overcome these concerns. https://www.mindandsoulfoundation.org/Articles/301853/Mind_and_Soul/Articles/Supporting_local_schools.aspx
Looking after your own Mental Health
This is a whole topic in itself and on the Mind and Soul Foundation website we have curated together a set of resources aimed at ‘leaders’ – these can be church leaders but can equally be leaders in secular roles. This includes every teacher as they lead in their classroom, but there will also be some of these resources that are especially relevant to those with formal leadership roles in education. Some recent articles include: ‘Avoiding Overwhelm’ and ‘Time to MOT your Mind’.
1) Mind and Soul Leaders Area: https://mindandsoulfoundation.org/Articles/646836/Mind_and_Soul/Resources/Leadership.aspx
2) Would you consider coming along to a leadership conference? Perhaps try something that is not a conference for teachers! The Leadership Conference run by Alpha and HTB will encourage and inspire and usually has a mental health / wellbeing stream too. Sign up for the 2024 event: https://www.leadershipconference.org.uk/
[All blogs on our website are the personal view of the writer and do not necessarily represent a position taken by CVE Scotland.]
