Page 38 - SEN116 January-February 2022

Wellbeing
How one specialist school is hoping
to change the world’s approach to
mental health
Cheryl Smith describes the background and work of the LightBulb programme, established to share professional experience in children’s mental health
38
“Mental illness, especially in young people, is on the rise and when you see how distressing it can be, you know you’ve got to do everything you can to help prevent it from happening in the first place,” says Cheryl Smith, Headteacher of St Andrew’s College.
The school, which specialises in providing trauma informed approaches, is located on the Northampton site of the psychiatric hospital St Andrew’s Healthcare.
Much of the work the school does is based on the Activ8 curriculum, which aligns with the National Curriculum, but it is taught in a more bespoke way to enable learners to feel safe and make progress as part of their recovery journey.
But for Cheryl, having worked in mental health for over 20 years, and having become Headteacher of the college 18 months ago, she instinctively knew she had to do everything in her power to reduce the chances of children requiring such a drastic intervention as being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
“At St Andrew’s we care for some very poorly young people who have often not received the help they needed until it was too late,” Cheryl explains.
“By the time they come to us many of them have lost hope, and are struggling to see the value in living, let alone trying to get an education,” she says.
■ Staff say the scheme has made a huge difference. SEN116
“Many of them have lost hope, and are struggling to see the value in living”
“It is a worrying situation and schools can play an invaluable role in recognising and supporting mental wellbeing which is paramount to ensuring young people have access to the best support when it is most needed.”
That is when Cheryl had a ‘lightbulb’ moment. She decided to reach out to other schools and provide them with the insight and understanding that her specialist team has acquired over many years.
“As a team, we wanted to find a way to pinpoint young people and to help equip schools with the skills they need to be resilient and to seek help about mental health issues, hopefully reducing the distress they experience and positively impacting the outcomes they experience,” she says.
“We believe early intervention is essential and can make a huge difference to the wellbeing of those children who are experiencing mental health issues.”
Together, with friend and colleague Peter Rainford, they developed the LightBulb programme which provides schools that sign up with a whole range of support, including five hours of mental health awareness and training for all school staff and wellbeing resources and activities for teachers and educational professionals.
“LightBulb is not just about helping children, parents and teachers to recognise the signs early on, it’s also about creating a culture of positive mental health which is driven by school leaders and embedded in practice,” Cheryl says.
“We firmly believe that this approach could significantly reduce the number of children who go on to develop more
senmagazine.co.uk