Mental Health and Wellbeing Toolkit
Mental Health and Wellbeing Toolkit
Toolkit collated by Clare Erasmus and Amy Sayer
What Is Mental Health?
Mental health is a term which refers to our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Our Mental Health affects how we think, feel, and act and is an indicator of how we handle stress, our relationships with people and sometimes even the choices we make.
What Is Wellbeing?
Wellbeing has been defined as the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy as well as our sense of purpose and how in control we feel.
Why Is this Toolkit Important for Diverse Educators?
It is now a well recognised fact that our Mental Health is as important as our physical health and that schools have a central role to play in enabling their pupils to be resilient and to support good mental health and wellbeing.
Teaching about Mental Health and Wellbeing is a core part of schools’ statutory curriculum delivery as well as protecting the wellbeing and mental health of staff. Both are now taken into account as part of Ofsted inspections.
In developing a whole school approach to mental wellbeing, we should seek to ask how inclusive and culturally sensitive are the school’s mental health processes and services in being appropriate and acceptable to all children and young people including from diverse families and from the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Diverse Educators’ Mental Health and Wellbeing Toolkit
- How do I develop a whole school approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing?
- How do I support Staff Mental Health & Wellbeing?
- How do I support Student Mental Health & Wellbeing?
- How do I introduce Mental Health & Wellbeing into the Curriculum?
- How do I practise Self care and life/work balance?
- How do I ensure my school has an Inclusive approach to Mental Health & Wellbeing?
Articles
Blogs
Books
Bethune, A (2018)
Wellbeing in the Primary Classroom: A practical guide to teaching happiness and positive mental health.
Bethune, A & Kell, E (2020)
A Little Guide for Teachers: Teacher Wellbeing and Self-care (A Little Guide for Teachers).
Brunzell, T. and Norrish, J. (2021)
Creating Trauma-Informed, Strengths-Based Classrooms: Teacher Strategies for Nurturing Students’ Healing, Growth, and Learning.
Erasmus, C. (2019)
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Handbook for Schools: Transforming Mental Health Support on a Budget.
Hulme, J. (2016)
The School of Wellbeing: 12 Extraordinary Projects Promoting Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Happiness.
Knightsmith, P. (2019)
The Mentally Healthy Schools Workbook: Practical Tips, Ideas and Whole-School Strategies for Making Meaningful Change.
Lohmann, R.C. (2015)
Teen Anxiety: A CBT and ACT Activity Resource Book for Helping Anxious Adolescents.
Luxmoore, N. (2014)
Essential Listening Skills for Busy School Staff: What to Say When You Don’t Know What to Say.
Morris, I. (2015)
Teaching Happiness and Well-Being in Schools, Second edition: Learning To Ride Elephants.
Musby, E. (2014)
Anorexia and other Eating Disorders: how to help your child eat well and be well: Practical solutions, compassionate communication tools and emotional … support for parents of children and teenagers.
Podcasts
Resources
Department for Education
Education staff wellbeing charter is a declaration of support for, and set of commitments to, the wellbeing and mental health of everyone working in education.