Place2Be receives DfE assurance for Senior Mental Health Leads training programme

The Department for Education (DfE) has quality assured Place2Be's training for Senior Mental Health Leads in state schools and colleges in England.

Launching today, our new comprehensive 12-week training programme will support Senior Mental Health Leads to develop a whole school or college approach to wellbeing and mental health.

The DfE has committed to funding mental health lead training for around a third of all state schools and colleges in England in the 2021-22 financial year. Schools can check their eligibility to receive a grant using the DfE’s guidelines.

Place2Be's Senior Mental Health Leads training will support participants to identify their school's priorities - relating to children, young people, staff, parents, and their ability to access specialist services. 

Participants will then develop strategic approaches to address those needs through the programme. They will also develop their own leadership within the frame of positive mental health and build a network, sharing best practice with peers from other schools and colleges.

The provision of training to help Senior Leads for Mental Health deliver whole school approaches to promoting better mental health was a core proposal from the Government’s 2017 Green Paper, Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision.

Catherine Roche, Chief Executive of Place2Be, said:

“The launch of quality assured training for Senior Mental Health Leads is the missing piece of the puzzle that we have been pushing for since the publication of the Government’s Green Paper in 2017. The role of the Senior Mental Health Lead is vital, not only to ensure that good practice is adopted in all aspects of mental health across the whole school, but also to be able to join up the wider systems of health and education so that children can get the right support at the right time.''

Tamsin Ford, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and Research Chair at Place2Be added:

“The role of Senior Mental Health Lead within schools is extremely important and provides a real opportunity to promote mental health, prevent mental ill-health and to facilitate access to support for those who need it. But like any additional role, training is crucial to make the biggest possible impact and building the confidence to lead this important initiative in your school.''

The Senior Mental Health Leads training programme builds on the success and learnings from Place2Be’s previous training for School Leaders, which launched in 2015 and has trained over 500 School Leaders from 460 schools to date.

In addition, during the 2020-21 academic year over 50,000 teachers and staff from more than 13,800 UK schools took part in Place2Be’s online Mental Health Champions - Foundation programme.

Senior Mental Health Leads in England can find out more and sign up today.

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