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Workshop: Design your dream school for good mental health
Led by: Nikki Chapman, Emma Soneson, Dave McPartlan, Leanne Walker, and young lived experience experts from the Rethinking Education and My Mind is My Own Special Interest Research Groups
What does the ‘dream school’ for mental health look like? In this hybrid workshop we discussed key research findings surrounding mental health in schools. Participants then collaborated with each other to discuss ideas for schools that can promote good mental health and developed visual representations of these ideas with the help of an illustrator who works with the team.
Three key messages:
- Children & young people had very different experiences of education and mental health during the pandemic.
- It’s important to learn from children & young people’s experiences in order to create a better education system moving forward.
- Relationships between young people and adults in schools, are of the utmost importance if issues around mental health are to be fully addressed.
This workshop was connected to our Supporting the Supporters research challenge: How can young people, family members, and settings be better enabled to help promote good mental health and prevent and overcome emerging mental health problems?
Research Reflections Interview
Nikki, Dave, and Emma joined us before the Summit to explain their plans for the workshop and some of the key messages they wanted to discuss. You can watch the video below.
The Dream School for Good Mental Health
At the workshop, young people, parents, educators, practitioners, and researchers came together to discuss what their dream school for good mental health looks like. Illustrator Leanne Walker then collated all the themes from these discussions, email submissions, and ideas submitted by online delegates via Mentimeter, to create the image below.
You are welcome to use and share the illustration – do send us or Rethinking Education a message about how you have used it so they can track its journey!
Further Resources
Check out these pictures from the day!
Photos from Oxford Atelier and artwork by Tom Bailey (@tombaileyart).
Workshop Live Tweets
You can read a great thread below from Mark who live-tweeted the workshop via @Mental_Elf.
Welcome to the next session at #emergingminds: 'Design your dream school for good mental health' I'm @markoneinfour live tweeting for Mental Elf. Our session is related to this research priority @rethink_ed_sirg. The session will run through until 15.25 https://t.co/2Jwnw83WpZ
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
Very packed room here for dream school for mental health! There are big sheets of paper, post-its, crayons, felt-tipped pens – there's going to be some intense school designing here #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
The session is being introduced by Emma Soneson, Dave McPartlan and Nikki Chapman. McPartlan says he was looking at young people's ownership of their own mental health https://t.co/ur5oJAZRkK #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
McPartlan: young people drafted their own list of themes around mental helath:
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
-Internal responsibility (personal control)
-External responsibility (lack of personal control)
-Support – choice, accessible info
-Barriers – stigma, racism, pressure to get better #emergingminds
McPartlan: working with sixth formers, we evaluated a whole school mental health strategy. The young people said no one would talk to me, he says. Staff/student relationships key. A Young Research team was vital for bridging to younger participants #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
McPartlan: we also found that the school curriculum needed to be developed far further to support young people. #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
Nikki Chapman is now introducing a video explaining 'Rethinking Education', the work they did in an extraordinary year for young people. https://t.co/guv8NrccBh #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
Chapman: people were very worried about young people's mental health during the pandemic. Anecdotal evidence said some young people's mental health improved during lockdown. This felt like an indictment of our education system #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
Sorenson says they surveyed 100 CYP and 300 parents/carers. A third of young people said that mental health had improved in lockdown, a third the same, a third worse. We need to learn from the third who felt better https://t.co/VzMCvodpyt #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
Sorenson says those young people who felt better during lockdown said they had:
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
-better relationships;
-less left out/lonely;
-managing school better;
-More sleep and exercise;
This very much changed/challenged narratives about schools and mental health. #emergingminds
And now: the designing commences! A team of young people are assisting the small groups of attendees as they design their dream schools for mental health. #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
Here's more on the fascinating work Chapman and Sorenson spoke about:
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
"A sizeable minority of Children and Young People reported improved mental wellbeing during lockdown. Determining why might provide insights into future mental health"https://t.co/JIHPfFilPP #emergingminds
And here's more on Dave McPartlan's work in schools https://t.co/V7VnzJuRVE #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
From my live tweeting vantage point I can see that some of attendees designing dream schools for mental health have found glitter. I think this may find its way into the recommendations (or at least onto people's clothes) #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
We're going around the room now, asking the room to share their top three qualities of a dream school for mental health. Responses include… #emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
Dream school for mental health:
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
-educate people, don't punish
-less exam pressure
-wellbeing support for staff and students
-art and music needed
-calm and collaborative
-trusted relationships
-access to food and exercise
-collaborative care planning
-later start#emergingminds
Dream school for mental health (cont): -curating learning for quality, not busyness -choice and autonomy -creative -smaller numbers -life skills -mental health hub for community, based in school -proper funding -time to develop relationships -genuine consultation#emergingminds
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022
All of these suggestions will be synthesised into one illustration. McPartlan thanks the young people’s for joining us from Carlisle and that’s it for this session at #emergingminds. Now: the closing plenary!
— The Mental Elf (@Mental_Elf) October 17, 2022