Recently I've been doing a lot of training about how to offer brief psychological interventions in schools and colleges. There is a new kind of worker, introduced in England in 2018, who are called Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs). As this is such a new role most EMPHs are still in training and they and their teams, supervisors, trainers, and colleagues are all trying to work out what they will do in these new roles. THat's pretty hard. And it is so much harder to figure all this out and to learn how to do the job when schools and colleges across England have been closed for months.
I've now met lots of new trainees, supervisors and trainers, all online of course under lockdown. And it has been fantastic. I have so enjoyed the training I've done and we have shared and learned a lot together. I'm going to be keeping a close eye on how this new profession develops and I look forward to the day when they can all finally set foot in schools, nursery and colleges across the country and get to grips with their new roles.
There are a few inspirational and innovative colleagues and organisations who have done great work in schools and I'd recommend you getting in touch with them to find out more about what they do. In particular the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust will provide free training to schools and colleges about mental health - and they have some absolutely fantastic trainers. Have a look at their website for a taster of what they can offer
I'll be talking a lot more about them in the future because they were kind enough to fund some research I've done on developing a treatment for adolescent depression that we can deliver in schools. They rely completely on donations so if you are doing any fund raising please consider them.
