Teaching mental health

Teaching mental health

Always, but especially this year – it’s important for us to help educate our young people about their mental health and wellbeing. We all understand the benefits of physical health for our students and are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of mental health and wellbeing among Australian children and adolescents.

In 2015, research showed that almost 1 in 7 four to seventeen-year old’s were assessed with having a mental disorder.  

Where does mental health fit in the curriculum? 

The Victorian Curriculum highlights mental health and wellbeing as one of the twelve focus areas within the HPE curriculum. This focus area addresses “how mental health and wellbeing can be enhanced at an individual and community level. The curriculum supports students to develop knowledge, understanding and skills to manage their own mental health and wellbeing and to support that of others.” – VCAA.  

Addressing mental health is an essential aspect of our curriculum, but where exactly does it fit? If you explore the Personal, Social and Community Health strand of the HPE curriculum, you will find mental health fits under a lot of the sub-strands and relates to many of the content descriptions. Mental health also fits within the Ethical Capability and Personal and Social Capability curriculums. 

Below we share a list of organisations and resources you may find useful when engaging with your students to help you teach mental health units at your school >> 

Youth Support: 

• ReachOut – from a student perspective, ReachOut is a fantastic resource that can help with everything from day to day stress to more serious circumstances. For students, there are a number of great resources available for them to utilise. 
• Youth Beyondblue – tailored specifically to adolescents, this branch of Beyondblue aims to support youth in need of support, information and guidance. 
• Kids Helpline – when landing on this website, students can choose which page they visit depending on their age. From there, the options, layout and resources are tailored specifically for the age group selected. Students can choose from a particular topic or select how they are feeling and can navigate articles, games, quizzes, fact sheets, and comics among other options. You may also find some educational posters and resources on the school portal that can assist with making your learning visible. 
• Headspace.org.au – not to be confused with Headspace.com, Headspace.org.au is a national youth mental health foundation that aims to improve the health and wellbeing of young Australians. Students will find a number of articles, tips and blog entries relating to a vast number of issues. 

Educational Resources: 

• ReachOut – the school portal is designed for teachers to access educational resources and tools to help plan and deliver mental health units. 
• Beyondblue – six main sections, each serving a specific purpose that will benefit both your professional learning needs whilst also providing insight and support for your students. When looking specifically for educational resources, you will find a downloadable practice guide that assists building resilience in children aged 0-12 here, otherwise all other educational resources are located within the “Healthy Places” section. 
• Black Dog Institute – a number of handy resources on their website that will assist in developing your knowledge base of mental health, however you will also find two free, evidence-based educational resources that you can deliver for your students. 

Mindfulness / meditation:

• Headspace.com – app that aims to improve the health and happiness of people across the world. Headspace provide guided meditations, animations, blog articles and videos to teach mindfulness and improve mental health.  
• Smiling Mind – not-for-profit organisation that aims to make mindfulness a priority by providing accessible tools and resources to support the development of healthy minds with information, tools and resources to develop a whole-school approach to mindfulness complimented by professional learning opportunities as well as a free app that both students and teachers can easily utilise. 

Whole-school approach / professional learning: 

• MindMatters – a mental health framework for secondary schools that aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people. The framework provides structure, guidance and support in the form of professional learning modules to upskill school leaders, wellbeing staff and school staff to achieve a whole school approach to mental health. 
• KidsMatter – aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of primary school students using a framework that aims to upskill school staff through professional learning modules. In addition, the website has many other resources to support developing a whole school approach to mental health. You will also find detailed information sheets on many mental health topics that may assist when planning your health curriculum. 

Teachers, we’re here for you. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch should you need further advice or guidance.