Government pledges £300m to provide mental health support in schools

Under proposals set to be outlined in a green paper tomorrow (Monday), every school and college in England will be "incentivised" to appoint a designated senior lead for mental health to co-ordinate existing school-based support as well as helping children to access specialist therapies and other NHS treatments.

Supported by a training package of up to £95m from 2019, the senior leads will also be responsible for developing a "whole-school approach" to mental health and wellbeing.

This will include making sure pastoral support is available for all pupils and that strong policies are in place to reduce bullying and other behaviours that can cause mental distress.

A further £215m will be available to create new "mental health support teams" which will aim to improve joint working working between schools and the NHS.

The teams will provide a wider range of support and treatments in or near schools and colleges, to improve early intervention so mental health problems can be addressed before they become more serious.

The government said several thousand people are likely to be recruited over the next five years to form the new teams, which could be trained to offer cognitive behaviour therapy and other evidence-based treatments in classrooms.

Supervised by clinicians they will also work closely with educational psychologists, school nurses, counsellors, social workers and others to assess and refer children for other specialist treatments if necessary.
 
Other measures set out in the green paper include ensuring every primary and secondary school in the country is offered mental health awareness training and making mental health and wellbeing a focus of efforts to improve the quality of relationships education and PSHE.