The wellbeing toolkit for professionals working with children and young people

This is the new publication from nurture group network (NGN) and it is fantastic to see this released and finally available for use in our schools and other services. Dr. Tina Rae been working on this programme for 12 months now and trialling the sessions with teachers and social workers in a range of schools and services across the country, taking on board feedback as to what they found useful (and not so useful!) in terms of supporting and maintaining their own wellbeing and mental health.

This is a timely and comprehensive resource which will hopefully become part of every institution’s approach to supporting the development and maintenance of staff mental health. We feel very strongly that we need to maintain the focus on the mental health of our children and young people but also, that unless staff themselves are able to describe themselves as mentally fit for purpose, then they will find that supporting the children with complex issues and concerns will be problematic. How can we foster the self-management skills in young people unless we model them ourselves? That is not to say that we cannot support them when we have our own stressors to contend with but simply that we will obviously find this task less problematic if we have developed strategies which ensure our own coping mechanisms and tools to manage our stressors effectively.

Removing barriers to learning and achievement - ensuring staff wellbeing

Many families today are exposed to high level of daily stress and the incidence of childhood depression is increasing. An estimated ten per cent of children in any school experience serious depression, such as going through extended periods of despair and even engaging in suicidal thoughts. Young people do not enjoy carefree childhoods but instead have to cope with the devastating effects of divorce, exposure to drugs and bullying amongst other significant stressors. Young people are most vulnerable to negative emotions and at risk of developing depression at the age of 11, when they move from Primary to Secondary education (Reivich and Shatte, 2002).

Such factors clearly also increase the level of stress experienced by teachers and support staff who are tasked with ensuring young people’s wellbeing and in removing any barriers to learning and achievement. This is also coupled with a relentless inspection regime and a culture of target-setting which some professionals feel is damaging teachers' mental health with many reporting symptoms of stress and exhaustion, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) survey (2014). At the same time, the ATL reported more and more teachers are complaining of "unacceptable workloads" and insufficient support from schools over "challenging parents". More specifically, over a third - 38% - of school and college staff reported having seen a rise in mental health issues among colleagues in the past two years and 55% said their job had a negative impact on their mental health.

A culture change?

In June 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published new guidelines entitled "Workplace Policy and Management Practices to Improve the Health and Wellbeing of Employees". The aims are to explore the positive and negative affects an organisation's culture can have on people's health and wellbeing, promote leadership that supports the health and wellbeing of employees and help line managers achieve this and strengthen their role in ensuring the health and wellbeing of employees.

Among the recommendations NICE makes is to have a support base in place for all teaching staff and to make health and wellbeing a core priority for senior management.

A paradigm change

Wellbeing for both students and teachers can no longer be seen as a ‘fluffy’ concept. Wellbeing in schools is a fundamental prerequisite for healthy, constructive and productive quality teaching and learning. Both students and teachers need to be supported, fit and well to be inspired and inspiring. This does not happen without the right support mechanisms and mindsets for all involved in the teaching and learning process.

The need for a programme of support

In the current climate it is therefore more pertinent and important than ever that we address these issues in a proactive manner and set up systems of support that ensure individual wellbeing within a supportive and nurturing context. We only have to make reference to the above statistics - the number of teachers leaving the profession and the number of professionals retiring from teaching and subsequently suffering physical and mental ill health as a result of the stress levels that they have had to cope with over a sustained period of time.

The 20 sessions in this second wellbeing toolkit for professionals therefore aims to provide the necessary resources to enable staff to maintain and further enhance their own wellbeing so that, in essence, they can describe themselves as fit, well and flourishing - both personally and professionally.

Each of the key topics will provide a package of training and resources which will include information leaflets, strategies, skills-based activities, and a power point presentation (with detailed facilitator's notes).

Topic 1 - Understanding and assessing your mental health and wellbeing
Topic 2 - Developing a growth mindset
Topic 3 - Understanding the impact of trauma and how to utilise psychological debriefing
Topic 4 - The role of emotional literacy in your life
Topic 5 - How to be an emotion coach
Topic 6 - Understanding the impact of bereavement
Topic 7 - Managing your stress - building your toolbox
Topic 8 - Understanding issues of vicarious trauma when supporting children and young people with mental health difficulties
Topic 9 - Defining and asserting yourself
Topic 10 - Managing conflict
Topic 11 - The resilience snake - building resilience using key tools of positive psychology
Topic 12 - Using strategies from Cognitive behaviour therapy to build resilience
Topic 13 - Using strategies from appreciative inquiry to support the change process
Topic 14 - Using Mindfulness Approaches to reduce stress
Topic 15 - Developing wellbeing through creative activities - creating your ‘flow’ plan
Topic 16 - Using tools from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to foster a positive mindset in young people
Topic 17 - Developing circles of support
Topic 18 - Using and developing your communication skills
Topic 19 - Using coaching to maintain staff wellbeing
Topic 20 - Developing reflective practice

Contact Details

Contact NGN for publication orders
National office telephone: 020 3475 8980
Email: info@nurturegroups.org
Address: 18A Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PB