Mental health difficulties among young people are on the rise, as the prevalence surveys show and staffroom conversations will attest. But what is driving this? And crucially, how can we best respond, both in school and beyond?
Last term, the Department of Health and Social Care (2025) announced a review to look into exactly these questions. Professor Peter Fonagy and a multi-disciplinary advisory group will be reporting next summer on the prevalence, trends and inequalities associated with mental health conditions, ADHD and autism in children, young people and adults.
As well as looking at factors linked to trends, and the impact of clinical practice, the review will also look at ways to promote the prevention of mental ill-health, and ways to create resilience and improve early intervention.
There is a wealth of evidence and practice expertise emanating from schools that will support the group in their work. One source of new insights and approaches is the major UK Research and Innovation investment into the AMHDM programme (Adolescence, Mental Health and the Developing Mind).
Comprising seven flagship projects and 13 methodological projects, the programme is exploring how mental health needs emerge in young people, what makes some more resilient or vulnerable than others, and how we can promote positive mental health and wellbeing.
Many of the programmes have profound implications for schools and colleges.
The ReThink project, for example, is looking at the factors influencing care-experienced young people’s mental health and wellbeing as they make the transition to secondary school.
The AMHDM programme is also testing interventions. The ReSET team at UCL, for example, is testing a new school-based group skills training programme that focuses on good emotional skills and positive social relationships. These two elements affect young people’s resilience and vulnerability to a range of mental health difficulties and are often looked at separately despite being closely related.
This project is exploring how these aspects evolve over time and is testing the effectiveness of an intervention with this dual focus among young people who are already experiencing some mental health difficulties.
Groups of up to 10 young people in years 7 to 9 have tested the eight-week skill-based training programme in school, with content developed in partnership with young people, and results will be shared soon.
Relationships matter, and spaces do too. Another of the studies, SOCITS at the University of Glasgow, is exploring different spaces around the school, how young people use these spaces, and the interactions they have in them.
They are interested in the impact these can have on factors such as stress and loneliness (strongly linked to mental health). They’re testing out a new approach to measuring mental health in schools that takes account of these situational factors.
This includes a computer-generated artificial school that can be used to test out what would happen if situations in school were changed, such as the way students move through corridors. This allows school staff to test out and discuss changes that could reduce stress among pupils.
Impactful changes in school are at the heart of the Place Positive intervention. Currently in development, this co-designed whole-school intervention aims to reduce the risk of depression associated with ADHD and autism.
The interventions in Place Positive have been developed through careful, co-produced work by the Re-STAR team at Kings College London and neurodivergent young people, who have shared their everyday emotional experiences and stresses in schools.
Final thoughts
These are just a few of the exciting developments underway that will help schools to understand more about the impact on students’ mental health, and constructive, holistic approaches to preventing difficulties from emerging or worsening.
Crucially, all of these programmes have been developed with the extensive involvement of young people, sharing their experiences and ideas to make approaches and interventions acceptable and relevant.
The findings and outputs of these research programmes and the other projects in the AMHDM programme will have significant practical application for school staff and mental health support teams, supporting them to address the needs of individual students and to embed whole-school approaches to mental health and wellbeing.
- Dr Alison Penny is assistant director for wellbeing at the National Children’s Bureau and knowledge mobilisation support for AMHDM.
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