This research examines the impact of Place2Be's whole-school service on the school community in 20 primary schools in Salford, Greater Manchester.
Our Law Family Salford Research Programme, generously funded by the Law Family Charitable Foundation (LFCF), is a groundbreaking three-year research study that began in September 2022. The research aims to provide evidence of the effectiveness of whole-school mental health provision and advocate for a whole-school approach to mental health in all schools.
Objectives
- To assess the effect of Place2Be on the mental health, wellbeing and resilience of the pupils, parents/carers and school staff and how the service equips children for their future.
- To investigate the role of Place2Be in building a mentally healthy ethos in schools which reduces stigma associated with mental ill health, promotes help-seeking and supports the leadership team to achieve this.
- To examine the contribution of Place2Be to the academic outcomes in the school.
- To identify the impact of Place2Be on relationships between the school with external specialist mental health agencies.
What we are doing
20 primary schools in Salford, Greater Manchester, will benefit from having Place2Be’s whole-school service. This service provides an embedded mental health practitioner who works in the school two days a week and supports the school community through:
- one-to-one and/or group-based targeted inventions for pupils
- a drop-in counselling service available to all pupils through self-referral
- psychoeducational whole-class work and assemblies
- a support service for school staff to draw on expert advice to support children's mental wellbeing in their role
- school staff professional development including Mental Health Champions Foundation Programme and Senior Mental Health Leads Programme.
In addition, a Family Practitioner will work with the schools to provide a range of parenting support, including parent-child training, parenting advice, an online parenting course and access to Place2Be’s Parenting Smart website.
You can find out more about our whole-school service on our Mental health support in schools page.
Key findings so far
- Out of 20 schools, over 200 pupils were supported through one-to-one counselling, 1500 pupils had been supported through Place2Talk sessions and nearly 150 pupils were supported in Journey of Hope, across the 2022-2023 academic year.
- According to parents, 3 in 5 (61%) children who accessed our one-to-one counselling saw an improvement in their mental health.
- Most pupils agreed that Place2Talk helped them to feel calmer (77%), feel less worried (69%), and helped them to sort out a problem (68%). Most pupils felt that they were listened to in Place2Talk sessions (83%) and most said that they would recommend Place2Talk to a friend (83%).
- Following the completion of Place2Be's Mental Health Champions Foundation Programme, 83% of school staff said they had used or intended to use one or more new approaches from the programme.
- Nearly half of parents/carers agreed that they had done something different as a parent after speaking to the Mental Health Practitioner (49%) and got new advice they had not had before (47%).
Keep a look out for our findings from year two, which we’ll release in Summer 2024.
