Training for school mental health leads ‘shelved before pandemic’, MPs told

The training of teachers to become senior mental health leads in schools was first mooted in the government’s 2017 green paper on transforming young people’s mental health provision.

• Research: Protecting children's psychological health effective communication about Covid-19

• Analysis: Progress on child mental health

The paper said ministers aimed to see a quarter of schools with mental health leads by 2023.

However, at an evidence session with the government’s health and social care committee, Emma Thomas, chief executive of children’s mental health charity YoungMinds said the training of such teachers had not yet started, adding that the tender was paused in January last year, before the pandemic hit.

Jeremy Hunt, chair of the committee and former Health Secretary, questioned NHS England director of mental health Claire Murdoch on the issue to which Murdoch replied: “It is true to say the senior teacher lead is something the Department for Education is leading on. It is their responsibility to deliver that.

“I know there was a hiatus with that last year in the wake of Covid and it is really best to ask them.”

Murdoch also highlighted that mental health leads in schools are one part of “three components to the introduction of those mental health support teams” including piloting four-week waiting times for young people seeking support and increasing overall mental health support available in schools.

“Those senior teacher leads are a pivotal part to the model, as are school nurses and GPs,” Murdoch said.

Hunt has called on the NHS director of mental health to write to the DfE asking for more information on the delay.

A DfE spokesperson said it was “prioritising bespoke training” to deal with the pressures of the pandemic but added: “We are now working with key stakeholders, including training providers, to take forward training for senior leads in the next academic year”.

Children’s commissioner for England Dame Rachel De Souza who also gave evidence to MPs reiterated previous calls for schools to “focus on wellbeing” following pupils' return to classrooms.

She also raised concerns over the progress of implementing increased mental health support in schools, calling for plans laid out in the 2017 green paper, including training for mental health leads to be “rocket-boosted”.

Meanwhile, Oxfordshire County Council has launched a new wellbeing information hub aimed at signposting 16- to 18-year-olds to appropriate support around mental health, education and training, and managing finances.

Steve Harrod, Oxfordshire’s cabinet member for children and family services, said: “For 16- to 18-year-olds, it’s a confusing, scary and anxious time and this is compounded by Covid-19.  

“While existing mental wellbeing networks have tried to maintain a level of service, for almost a year, we recognise that young people have had limited or no access to the range of professionals who would normally steer them through a very complex set of decisions at a crossroads in their life. That is why we are taking action by launching a mental wellbeing information hub.”

For more information visit: www.oxme.info/wellbeing