Research digest: School based interventions

Child and adolescent psychotherapists have long been involved in the provision of therapy and mental health support within schools. The form such support takes has evolved over the years, and while once such interventions would primarily have been offered to students who struggled to engage with their education or manage the school environment, there is now a much wider remit. The UK government’s 2017 Green Paper, ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health’ (Department of Health & Department for Education, 2017), recognised the important role schools can play in addressing mental health concerns and detailed its intention to focus on providing young people with additional therapeutic support through schools and colleges. This expansion of provision within the sector has included the development of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), which are intended to provide early intervention on some mental health and emotional wellbeing issues, help staff within schools provide a ‘whole school approach’ to mental health and wellbeing, and provide a link with local CAMHS teams. Child and adolescent psychotherapists have been involved in the setting up and management of these teams and thus have played a key role in how schools develop their attitude and approach to supporting the mental health of their pupils. Meanwhile, some within the profession continue to be employed directly by schools in ‘school counsellor’ roles. This is particularly prevalent within the independent (private) school sector.

Working as a mental health professional within a school presents opportunities for supporting children on an individual basis through an early intervention approach, but also for working with young people who would struggle to access traditional community mental health services (so-called ‘hard-to-reach’ children). In addition, there is also the potential to effect change in contextual and environmental issues within schools, which may be driving or exacerbating mental he