Claudette Wilson, Head of HR Business Partners and Joycelyn Thompson, Head of Safeguarding at Ark Schools Academy Trust

Supporting young people with their mental health has always been a priority for us at Ark, and we’ve been pleased that we’ve worked closely with partners like HealthyMinds@Work since 2020.The disruption to schooling across the country caused by the pandemic raised apparent concerns around the mental health of children and young people.

An assessment undertaken by our staff of more than 6,300 students in Ark’s secondary pupils found that one in seven struggled with emotional problems such as anxiety and low mood. So, our schools have prioritised student wellbeing and provided targeted mental health support to those who need it. We developed our Mental Health Framework, a three-staged approach that provided universal, targeted, specialist support to schools.

Considering the HealthyMinds@Work model and other strategies, we set and shaped our offering to ensure that emotional health and wellbeing were at the forefront of a changing and challenging landscape. To equip our school leaders and staff with the knowledge and confidence necessary to support students and staff, we commissioned training from HealthyMinds@Work. The training focused on staff wellbeing, so Principals were able to develop a school-wide response in dealing with increased levels of social, emotional, and mental health caseloads.

HealthyMinds@Work also helped us run Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) session where DSLs were trained to deliver training to all teaching staff. This provided them with the knowledge and confidence to identify concerns and know what to do if issues arose. In addition, the training provided opportunities for attendees to consider the different ways students respond to trauma, change and loss and provided attendees with a range of therapeutic tools they could use with students to gain a clearer understanding of their needs.

Having support from HealthyMinds@Work has been a positive experience for us as their training and learning are excellent, and we can see real impact.