Why is Children’s Mental Health Training Important?
You’re talking about Children’s lives!
Todays blog post is for schools and organisations supporting children – you play such an important role in childrens lives. Your well-being, and the children’s you work with – are inter-linked.
Children’s mental well-being is the sum of their physical, emotional and social development. It’s essential kids are given opportunities to develop their emotional resilience and self-esteem so they can reach their full potential to lead healthy, fulfilling lives. You can help with this.
Good mental health gives children the ability to cope with stressful situations, build strong relationships and have a positive outlook on life. You can set them up for better futures by investing now. Ensuring that children are supported to develop their mental well-being helps them to reach their full potential, both now and for the rest of their lives.
What difference does it make?
The work you do as a school or charity supporting children and their families is so important. Supporting you in supporting others makes all the difference.
You might be thinking – why fork out from an already small budget for mental health training? How will it benefit you? You’re already operating from a tight purse – it’s hard to prioritise which training will have the best effect or most impact. But mental health training is something that has a huge ripple effect. For those who undertake the training on the day, the children and young people you work with – and the wider community and people connected to them. If you have 3 people on a Youth Mental Health First Aid course – they all come into contact with at least 10 others, that’s 30 conversations that could change lives. At a minimum. Isn’t that amazing?
5 Reasons investing in children’s mental health will pay off for your school or organisation
- Happier employees! – investing in children’s mental health training leads to improved employee satisfaction, your team will have greater confidence in their ability to provide the best care for their children.
- Getting more done in school – ensuring children’s mental health needs are met leads to enhanced productivity. Children are better able to focus on their work and tasks.
- Reduced time off – investing in children’s mental health leads to fewer absences, as children will be better able to cope with stress and other mental health issues. Not only that – your team are less likely to be off too – as they’ll be managing their own well-being too!
- Increased collaboration – investing in mental health training and workshops leads to increased collaboration amongst teams, they’re able to be open and honest about their own mental health needs. You open the lines of communication with a little more awareness.
- Increased employee loyalty – investing in mental health training also leads to increased employee loyalty, your team feel appreciated and supported. You can make this happen – it doesn’t have to be a battle to retain good staff members who are loved by the children you support.
What can you do?
Start simple – have a look at what you’ve currently got in place. Is there a good ratio of staff that have got any training or knowledge? Do you know how many and who? Does everyone else know who is trained? It’s important that if you have got some trained staff – they have clear roles. Are they there for the children? For other staff? Do you want them to hold regular events? What is their purpose? – If you aren’t sure, get in touch for some help outlining what that could be.
Is there easily accessible information to hand to everyone? (If not, start with even just one of the free signposting sheets dotted around – get them here) Look at having book nooks. Books for children and adults. Stories, and informational pieces. Create quiet spaces, and have named members of your team available at set times. Create once-a-month initiatives or clear schedules of well-being related activities.
Book mental health training – whether it’s Mental Health Awareness, First Aid for Youth Mental Health, or even Mini-Medics Courses for children. Training will allow you to:
- Grow your knowledge and the tools to share the information.
- Build techniques to maintain your own well-being
- Cope in a crisis.
You can gain an RQF qualification with Soul Focus, but we also offer bespoke sessions. You might want to look at listening skills, coping skills or mini sessions around anxiety, eating disorders or recognising substance abuse. What would work well for you?
Now what?
Book a call for a free chat to audit what’s working well for you, and what you could implement – no pressure to buy or book anything – but you’ll finish the call with three things you can do straightaway for free. Book a call here
Think about the kind of environment you want to create for your staff, and the children you support, and get in touch for some ideas you can implement today.
FInally – if you just want to start somewhere small – get our newsletter – weekly wellbeing, for tips, ideas and updates each week.
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