Today is World Mental Health Day and I train and support schools in using a trauma informed approach to improve mental health, behaviour, attendance, staff retention and ultimately improve achievement. What I would like to ask people out there, is how do I really reach out to schools to develop this whole school ethos? A lot of schools tell me they there is a need here but so often they feel that they either have the skills and know the strategies that just ‘don’t work’ on some of their more challenging children, or have other more important priorities. I know that school is very pressurised and, although mental health and particularly pupil behaviour, is really impacting on staff and the whole school community, often there seems to be higher priorities. How can I help leaders realise the true impact that this approach will have at their school and with their challenging children?
Please do feed back to me – I am genuinely looking for answers for how to reach out and ultimately help our trauma experienced children.