Talking about Mental Health is committed to being accessible and universal. The resource is based around a podcast which is free to access for all teachers. You are also welcome to download the workbook which is designed to accompany the audio resources. It also includes an activity for Y6 children, but you're more than welcome to adapt it to suit any year group.
Talking about Mental Health is an educational resource developed as a companion to teachers who want to take an unconditional positive regard when tackling mental health in schools. It is based on principles of affirming and regulating emotion and collaborative knowledge building. You can read the research report above.
Purpose
Affirming &
Regulating Emotion
Whenever you're dealing with mental health issues, it is important you do not minimise what that person is feeling. Instead, you should affirm how they feel and then help them regulate the emotion and, if necessary, the behaviour.
Across the resource, this might also be referred to as empathise, validate and label.
Working together when it comes to mental health helps reduce workload and reduces the chance of stress. While there is still a lack of formal training, it is great to see schools and colleagues working together to foster collaborations of all kind.
Talking about Mental Health aims to get everyone talking more positively about the subject, and actively encourages you to share your ideas with others however you feel comfortable to do so.
