50,000 UK teachers and school staff access Place2Be’s mental health training

#MentalHeathAwarenessWeek – Over 50,000 teachers and school staff from more than 13,800 UK schools have now taken part in @Place2Be’s free online training course, Mental Health Champions – Foundation programme, the charity announced today (13 May).

The Mental Health Champions – Foundation programme, which launched in August 2020, builds on Place2Be’s extensive experience of working in partnership with schools since 1994. 

The programme helps education professionals to build skills and capacity for supporting positive mental health in schools and communities, as well as their own mental health and wellbeing.

The programme has reached teachers and school staff in every county across the UK, and 97% of participants said they would recommend the programme to a colleague. The course content has been viewed 1.7 million times, and has generated over 86,000 posts and comments.

Furthermore, 91% of participants feel that the course has increased their capacity to lead a positive approach to mental health and wellbeing, and 73% learned something in the course that resulted in a change in their actions, behaviour or attitude in their workplace.

Place2Be has worked in partnership with Hive Learning, a leading peer learning platform, to enable the charity to reach unprecedented numbers of teachers and school staff with its mental health training. The provision of free training for school staff during the pandemic has been made possible thanks to generous funding from Morgan Stanley, the Law Family Charitable Foundation (LFCF), Baillie Gifford and the Wimbledon Foundation.

“It has been a brilliant course with an excellent community of practice”, said Kanayo Dike-Oduah, a School Leader in Bromley.

Pamela Carmyle, a Teaching Assistant from West Lothian, added 

“I now feel more confident supporting children’s mental health within my school and in the wider school community.” 

Catherine Roche, Chief Executive of Place2Be, said:

“We are thrilled by the response to our first online training programme. It really highlights the incredible passion and dedication that school staff have for supporting their pupils’ wellbeing. Teachers have truly been on the frontline throughout this global pandemic, so we are proud that our training not only helps teachers feel more confident supporting their pupils’ mental health, but also helps them to reflect on their own mental health and wellbeing. Thank you to everyone who has taken part so far.” 

Mental Health Champions – Foundation programme is a 5-week course that can be completed via any device, at a time to suit the participant. Course content can be broken down into 15-minute sections, and a dedicated Place2Be professional joins each group to facilitate discussions and aid online learning.

Those who have completed the programme will be able to join the Place2Be Staffroom for exclusive access to free resources, a community of support and Place2Be’s expertise. 

The programme is open for registrations until June 4, after which Place2Be is taking registrations to be on the waiting list for next year.