Primary school classrooms are where mental health education must begin
Guess what the largest burden of disease effecting children aged 0-14 is?
Mental health problems.
In fact:
- 50% of adult mental health conditions begin by the age of 14
- 1 in 7 primary aged children are experiencing mental health problems today
Society is experiencing major and rapid changes and this is having an impact on the wellbeing of students. A Mental State of the World Report conducted by Sapien Labs in 2020, found that as age decreases so too does the quality of mental health. 49,000 people completed the survey in over 130 countries and the results were concerning when it relates to our young people, with nearly half of 18-24 year olds falling into the clinical/at risk category as opposed to 6% in the over 65 age range.
What can we do about it?
One of the key factors that help protect against mental illness is the building of wellbeing skills in students. Knowing how to take care of our mental health helps us stay resilient, build social support and self-efficacy, and cope with adversity. This is our core reason for being, to reclaim the term mental health and teach young kids from ages 3 and up how to take care of it.
Among the recommendations from the Sapien Labs' report was to include sleep education, social interaction content and physical exercise as core topics to be discussed in schools. Respondents who said they usually got enough of each of these 3 areas had higher mental health scores than those who did not.
Mental health education can be as simple as asking students to choose something from our Take Care of Your Mental Health physical or digital poster (see below) that they plan on doing that day for their wellbeing. N.B. sleep, exercise and connection are some of the invitations that students can choose from.
So where can educators start?
Grow Your Mind has taken the latest research of positive psychology, neuroscience, social & emotional learning & public health and created a comprehensive preventative mental health program for pre and primary school children, their educators & families. We know that the classroom where students learn is crucial in shaping their physical and mental health. That's why we created the Grow Your Mind - Digital for Teachers platform.
In it you will find wellbeing activities you can do in less than 5 minutes or options to extend into comprehensive units of work. The platform offers a plethora of ways to teach mental health education including emotional literacy tools, engaging character strength education videos, easy to use mindful breathing styles, staff wellbeing resources and loads more.
How do we do it?
Watch a 1 minute sneak peek of our Digital for Teachers
Engaging content! Watch a 30 second clip of one of our Guess Who playdough creations coming to life. Prepare to be inspired!
The digital annual subscription ALSO includes:
- teacher wellbeing resources
- micro moment + embedding wellbeing tools
- positive affirmations
- mini mental health lessons
- digital posters with core wellbeing themes of growth mindset, emotional regulation, resilience and brain health
- healthy + unhealthy relationship tracker
- units of work plus lesson plans
- recommended literature that supports wellbeing with units of work
- parent and carer presentation slides + links to parent wellbeing
Poor mental health is a serious issue and prevention is far easier than any cure. Let's not wait another moment before we start teaching our young kids how to take care of their mental health.