A new coalition of health and education experts – the Mental Health Action Group – met for the first time recently, to look at the pandemic’s impact on the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people, and education staff, across England.
Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson (pictured), was joined by Ministers from across Government, and Youth Mental Health Ambassador, Dr Alex George, to discuss how best to respond to the mental health issues of greatest concern – including the increase in eating disorders and self-harm among young people, and how to help education staff manage their mental wellbeing.
The coalition agreed to take forward more action across a range of areas, including boosting the support available to help children and young people move between schools and year groups, and looking at how schools and colleges can target funding and recovery support to ensure support reaches pupils who need it the most. The meeting built on the Government’s commitment to ensure millions more children and young people have access to specialist support, including significantly expanded mental health services, backed by an additional £79 million.
The number of Mental Health Support Teams – which provide early intervention on mental health and emotional wellbeing issues in schools and colleges – will grow from the 59 set up in March 2020 , to around 400 by April 2023, supporting nearly three million children and young people.
Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, said: “Getting young people back into schools and colleges has been a national priority, not just because of the significant benefits to their education, but because of the benefit to their wellbeing as well. Across society the sacrifices we have all had to make to battle to pandemic have had an impact on wellbeing and mental health, and this is especially true for young people, who have had to sacrifice so much over the last year. This Group’s important will build on the significant investment we have already put into mental health in education – through training for teachers, our new health education curriculum, and expert teams in schools and colleges. Today’s meeting highlights the cross-government approach we are taking to ensure we continue to support staff and students.
The meeting was jointly chaired by the Education Secretary, the Minister for Children and Families, Vicky Ford, and Universities Minister, Michelle Donelan.