PSE has a key role to play in educating children and young people around mental health, but it is also vital that PSE is not just delivered in classrooms; PSE should be supported by a whole-school approach to health and wellbeing so children and young people feel confident and supported to seek help outside of PSE lessons.Nicki Wray, Barnardo's Scotland
The Scottish Young Green's "Healthy Minds, Healthy Students" campaign, calling for mental health education to be provided via PSE in schools, has been welcomed by Barnardo's Scotland.
Barnardo's is the UK's largest children's charity, working across a range of areas including child poverty and supporting children in care. Commenting on the launch of the campaign, Barnardo's Nicki Wray said;
Barnardo’s Scotland welcomes the launch of the Scottish Young Greens Healthy Minds, Healthy Students campaign. Many children and young people will face difficulties with their mental health and wellbeing during their time at school. It is essential that children and young people are supported through education to build resilience, emotional literacy and coping strategies to enable them to deal with these difficulties. This support and education should be in place throughout the education journey, including in the early years.
Equally important is ensuring children and young people know where to turn to for support. Within our own services, the children and young people we work with told us they would turn to a teacher or their peers for support around their mental health. We want to see schools adopt and develop a ‘no wrong door approach’ to children’s mental health and wellbeing to ensure every pupil is able to seek appropriate help and support when they need it.
We therefore welcome the campaign’s focus on ensuring quality mental health education forms part of the PSE curriculum. PSE has a key role to play in educating children and young people around mental health, but it is also vital that PSE is not just delivered in classrooms; PSE should be supported by a whole-school approach to health and wellbeing so children and young people feel confident and supported to seek help outside of PSE lessons.
We congratulate the Scottish Young Greens for highlighting this important issue and look forward to seeing this campaign progress.
If you agree that high quality mental health education should be provided in every school, here's how you can join the campaign;
Go to our dedicated campaign page and fill out our response form, which will go to the Minister for Mental Health. Even better if you can talk about your own experiences in the message!
Share the campaign on social media, including the stories we've heard from young people. Keep an eye out for our graphics on Twitter and Facebook!
Get in touch with your MSPs and encourage them to back our campaign.