*Kath Fraser, December 2024
The previous government introduced Senior Mental Health Leads (SMHLs) following the 2017 Green Paper on Children’s Mental Health. Their purpose? To strategically oversee a school’s holistic approach to mental health. However, the implementation varies widely. Observations in 12 Liverpool schools (Fraser et al, 2024) showed that while some SMHLs operate strategically within Senior Leadership Teams (SLTs), others juggle multiple roles, from safeguarding to curriculum delivery. As research suggests, embedding a Whole School Approach (WSA) requires significant time and commitment – a luxury many SMHLs cannot afford (Procter et al., 2021).
Based on observations across Liverpool schools, here are actionable tips to help School Leaders implement this crucial role effectively.
1. Understand the Role’s Strategic Importance
The SMHL is not primarily a pastoral position; it’s a strategic leadership role designed to foster a culture of mental well-being across the school. According to the Department for Education (2023), SMHLs are tasked with overseeing and embedding the school’s mental health strategy, ensuring alignment with policies and practices. Whilst many of the SMHLs observed were highly skilled in delivering pastoral support and interventions to pupils, their primary focus needs to be taking a strategic view of mental health in the school.
Key Tip: Ensure the SMHL has a clear, strategic remit within your school’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT). If they are not part of the SLT, create mechanisms for them to influence decision-making.
2. Allocate Dedicated Time for the Role
One recurring theme from the narrative given by SMHLs is time—or rather, the lack of it. Nationally nearly half report feeling they can’t meet their role’s demands within a working day (Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Implementation Programme, 2023). From triaging morning crises to leading well-being clubs during lunch, their days are a whirlwind of activity. Many take administrative tasks home.
Implementing a Whole School Approach (WSA) demands time and focus (Procter et al., 2021). Without adequate time, strategic goals can be overshadowed by day-to-day tasks.
Key Tip: Protect dedicated, non-teaching time for your SMHL to focus on strategic planning, staff training, and external liaison.
3. Invest in Training and Development
Continuous professional development ensures that SMHLs stay informed about best practices and emerging research. All the SMHLs observed had completed Department for Education-funded training, which they cited as invaluable for understanding and fulfilling their role. Nevertheless, further research is needed to understand how well embedded the principles of this training are across all schools. There is a plethora of funded training available to Liverpool schools to support this, yet local data reveals that not all schools make full use of this. Furthermore, observations revealed that many SMHLs had self-funded additional therapeutic training to allow them to deliver interventions to pupils.
Key Tip: Encourage SMHLs to access relevant training and allocate funds for ongoing professional development. Self-funded training, while admirable, should not be the norm.
4. Clarify the Role’s Scope and Structure
Some schools confuse the strategic SMHL role with more operational pastoral roles like Mental Health Leads (MHLs) or Learning Mentors. This can dilute the SMHL’s capacity to enact strategic changes. Additionally, the placement of SMHLs within school hierarchies can leave those outside SLTs lacking the authority to drive strategic changes effectively. This discrepancy raises questions about whether the role’s potential is fully realised in all schools (DfE, 2022). Frequent mental health/pastoral meetings were observed as an effective mechanism for bringing these different roles together to ensure a cohesive approach. The SMHL can play a strategic role in bringing these staff together.
Key Tip: Define the SMHL’s responsibilities distinctly from other pastoral roles. Consider introducing both strategic SMHLs and operational MHLs to balance immediate and long-term needs. Regular Whole School Approach strategy meetings can help to further define the scope of these roles across the school.
5. Promote Whole School Buy-In
A Whole School Approach requires collaboration between the SMHL, SLT, teachers, parents, and external agencies. School leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering a culture of shared responsibility for mental health. When SLTs actively support mental health initiatives, it creates a culture of well-being that benefits the entire school community. Schools observed that had a cohesive Whole School Approach, had evidence of positive mental health practice embedded across all aspects of school life.
Key Tip: Create synergy between your support of SEND pupils, behaviour management, family liaison and mental health and wellbeing support. A clearly mapped graduated approach across these areas can support schools to get the best value out of the available resources. Investing into CPD around mental health and wellbeing is an important enabler for the development of a robust Whole School Approach.
6. Build Strong External Partnerships
The challenges faced by SMHLs are multifaceted. Attendance and punctuality, parental engagement, and high levels of student mental health needs dominate their agendas. Emotional-based school avoidance (EBSA) is particularly concerning, with schools employing strategies like reduced timetables and pastoral workshops to address it. However, without adequate external support, these efforts often fall short. SMHLs act as a bridge between schools and external services, such as Mental Health Support Teams and community organizations. Observations revealed school SMHLs holding complex caseloads. Local services are facing challenging times in meeting the rising demand for mental health support. However, local data also reveals that many schools are under-utilising the support available at an early intervention level (Thompson, 2023).
Key Tip: Map out and regularly review referral pathways to ensure clarity and efficiency. Advocate for stronger partnerships with local agencies to address service gaps – a termly Mental Health Schools’ Team meeting (including external agencies) can be a useful way to facilitate this. Think about ways to identify difficulties early and utilise the support of early intervention services such as Mental Health Support Teams.
7. Create Support Systems for SMHLs
The passion and dedication of SMHLs are undeniable. Many go above and beyond, self-funding resources, completing tasks out of hours, and often sacrificing their own well-being. However, this over-reliance on individual commitment is unsustainable. As Woolf (2022) suggests, balancing care for pupils with self-care is crucial for maintaining long-term effectiveness.
To support SMHLs, schools must prioritise their well-being. This includes regular supervision, adequate time for breaks, recognition within pay structures, and proper funding for the role. Investing in these areas not only supports SMHLs but ensures the longevity of mental health initiatives.
Key Tip: Schedule regular supervision sessions for SMHLs and monitor their workload. Recognise their contributions within pay structures and provide opportunities for peer support (for example attendance at Liverpool’s WSA networks).
8. Implement Best Practices
Despite the challenges, many SMHLs demonstrate remarkable innovation and resilience. Their strategies include:
- Trauma-Informed Approaches: Being mindful of how the environment either supports or challenges both pupils and staff through a trauma-informed lens. Creating safe spaces, prioritising relationships and regular wellbeing checks were noted amongst best practice examples.
- Structured Support Pathways: Clear referral systems and intervention mapping shared with all staff. Integral to these pathways is a triage process involving key members of the school pastoral team along with external services.
- Pupil and Staff Engagement: Initiatives like self-referral options for students and well-being programs for staff.
- Collaboration: Strong partnerships with external agencies and in-house multidisciplinary teams.
These practices not only address immediate needs but also lay the groundwork for sustainable mental health support.
Key Tip: Collaborate with your SMHL to implement evidence-based strategies, such as creating calming spaces, developing student voice initiatives, and engaging parents in mental health programs.
9. Monitor and Evaluate Impact
Tracking the effectiveness of mental health initiatives is crucial for continuous improvement. Many schools use tools like CPOMS to log interventions and measure outcomes. Systems to track pupil and staff wellbeing were found to be embedded in some schools, where in others they were recorded more ad-hoc. A more robust approach to monitoring and tracking wellbeing, especially across key academic transitions, could also assist with the early identification of emerging needs.
Key Tip: Develop clear metrics for success, such as attendance rates, pupil feedback, and reduced safeguarding incidents. Regularly review these metrics to refine your approach. School targeted measures such as ‘Bounce Together’ or the ‘Oxwell’ survey can be useful to identify need and measure the impact of interventions.
Final Thoughts
Implementing the SMHL role effectively requires a strategic vision, adequate resources, and whole-school collaboration. While challenges such as funding and external service gaps persist, the observations demonstrate that with the right support, SMHLs can transform school cultures and significantly enhance the well-being of pupils and staff.
As school leaders, your commitment to this role is crucial. By investing in SMHLs and embedding a culture of mental health awareness, you’re not only working to meet a statutory requirement but fostering a school environment where everyone can thrive.
*This article is based on research carried out by Rhiann Barrett, Jenny Cooper, Kath Fraser, Alexandra Hartley, Damian Hart, Rowena Jackson, Kayleigh Lane, Mia McGee, Kate Morris, Tony Niemen, Lucy Oliver, and Ceri Tinkler. The project was a collaboration between Liverpool Learning Partnership, Merseyside Youth Association, Young Person’s Advisory Service & Alder Hey NHS Trust.
References:
Department for Education (2023). Transforming children and young people’s mental health implementation programme: 2023 data release.
Fraser, K. et al. (2024). Observations from ‘A Day in the Life’ of a school Senior Mental Health Lead. https://liverpoolwsadirectory.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Day-in-the-life-observations-1.pdf
Procter, T. et al. (2021). Best Practice Review of Whole School Approach.
Woolf, A. (2022). Better Mental Health in Schools: Four Key Principles for Practice.
