13 – 19 May is Mental Health Awareness Week, an annual campaign hosted by the Mental Health Foundation aimed at raising the profile of issues related to mental health and encouraging conversations around wellbeing. Staff working in education settings are often relied upon more and more to provide front-line counselling and mental health support to young people. Many practitioners have not been equipped with the skills and training required to deal with these difficult issues, this in turn impacts their own mental health and stress levels. The Education and Training Foundation has been working with partners to highlight resources that might support staff in the education and training sector and these are signposted on their website here.
FE News articles from SCTP member Seetec and from a member of staff from Learning Curve Group, discuss how employers are actively taking part to help those affected by mental health issues in the workplace, but that more needs to be done to challenge negative labelling and mental health discrimination.