Guidance about mental health and wellbeing in schools and implementing a whole-school approach.
These resources may help if you're completing our Mental Health and Wellbeing Specialist Award or other Healthy Schools Awards.
Mental health conditions in young people
Globally, it's estimated that around 1 in 7 (14.3%) young people aged 10 to 19 experience mental health conditions, yet these remain largely unrecognized and untreated. Half of all diagnosable mental health conditions start before the age of 14, but if children have access to earlier help this can improve outcomes throughout the whole of their lives.
Over one million children had active referrals to children and young people's mental health services in 2024 to 2025. This is almost double the referrals seen in 2018 to 2019. The percentage of children with referrals to children and young people's mental health services grew by 9.5% in the last 12 months.
Mental health is closely linked with social, economic, and environmental factors. Some young people are at increased risk of mental ill health and there is clear inequality across the population.
Those who are most vulnerable include:
- children in low income families
- those who have adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
- those involved in social care
- those who have been excluded from school
- pupils who have special educational needs
- pupils with a long-term illness, disability, or medical condition
- those who experience bullying
- those who experience racism and discrimination
- those in the youth justice system
- those who use tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs
Your role as a school
Schools are in a good position to support children and young people to understand how they can look after their own mental health and wellbeing and to support resilience and prevention. Staff are can identify pupils who need more support and connect children and families to wider support services.
Good mental health and wellbeing helps pupils to:
- attend school
- develop key life skills, particularly social and emotional skills
- engage in learning
- achieve academically
- have better longer-term outcomes, such as future employment
Whole-school approach
Taking a whole-school approach is an evidence-based framework for improving outcomes. Our Healthy Schools Award for Mental Health and Wellbeing provides a local framework to support schools in taking a whole-school approach.
The approach requires schools to follow and implement these 8 principles:
- leadership and management that supports efforts to promote emotional health and wellbeing
- an ethos and environment that promotes respect and values diversity
- curriculum teaching and learning that promotes resilience and supports social and emotional learning
- enabling the student voice to influence decisions
- staff development to support their own wellbeing and that of students
- identifying need and monitoring the impact of interventions
- working with parents and carers
- targeted support and appropriate referral
Intervention programmes
There's a wide range of programmes that schools can buy in as part of their whole school approach.
Before investing in a program or intervention, you should think about whether:
- the intervention or program has an evidence base that you can be confident in
- the intervention or program is recommended by, for example, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) or another similar reputable organisation (note: that not all evidence-based interventions are recommended by the EEF or NICE but many are)
- the organisation offering the intervention can put you in touch with a school like yours, who has had success with the intervention and:
- the intervention has been evaluated (ideally this should be an independent evaluation)
- anything has changed in response to evaluation
- your staff will like it and find it feasible to implement
- you have staff who are sufficiently skilled to run the intervention (and if not, how you might go about getting to this point)
- it might cause any harm
You should also think about how your school will monitor the impact of the programme.
The Early Intervention Foundation Guidebook provides a comprehensive list of evidence-based programmes for interventions by topic and age group. The guidebook gives each intervention a score for how effective it is and for how much it costs and explains how the intervention works and what context it is more successful in.
Lesson plans
BANES Public Health and by Public Health England have developed lessons plans focusing on mental health and wellbeing. They're available on our PSHE page for both primary and secondary schools.
Local services
The Bristol Mental Health and Wellbeing Directory of Services for Children and Young People provides a place for children and young people, their families and professionals to get quick, easy and up to date information in Bristol, including:
- support and services available nearby
- ideas for activities locally to help you look after your wellbeing
- self-help tools and information including online resources
National guidance for supporting young people's mental health
- The Anna Freud Centre is a leading mental health charity working towards transforming mental health provision in the UK. It offers a broad range of quality-assured information, advice, and resources to support schools and further education settings.
- The Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) produces a range of tools and resources to help schools develop anti-bullying policies and advice on reducing and responding to bullying. ABA also offers free online training.
- The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust includes resources for young people in school and those who are about to go to university.
- Mind has information for young people aged 11 to 18 about a mental health and wellbeing, getting support and a page for parents and carers.
- MindEd is a free educational NHS resource on children and young people's mental health. It has e-learning and advice for professionals and families.
- The Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) provides training and support to schools who want to introduce mindfulness.
- Young Minds offer training and consultancy for professionals as well as a wide range of resources for young people, and for staff in schools.
- The self-harm guidance for schools in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire and self-harm guidance for working with children and young people include information about self-harm and its impact, and some practical ways to help schools and those working with children and young people to support young people.
- PSHE Association is the national body for PSHE education provides quality resources, updated guidance, training, and support for schools on teaching about mental health and emotional wellbeing.
- HappyMaps recommends resources on emotional health for parents and carers of children and young people of all ages.
For more resources, guidance and advice, contact healthy.schools@bristol.gov.uk.
Resources and information about staff mental health and wellbeing
Education Support give mental health and wellbeing support for the whole education workforce. The resources cover both individual needs, including a free confidential 24 hour helpline, as well as whole school and setting approaches to staff mental health. They also offer some bespoke support that schools can pay for.
Mental Health at Work is a range of resources, and toolkits to support mental health in the workplace.
Bristol City Council
We have guidance on workplace health and wellbeing for employers and employees on a range of topics for Bristol City Council employees.
These leaflets are produced by Community Access Support Service, aimed at adults:
Resources and information for parents, carers and families
HappyMaps recommends resources on emotional health for parents and carers of children and young people of all ages.
For more resources, guidance and advice, please contact healthy.schools@bristol.gov.uk