Because whatever you do to prepare a rich and
stimulating school day - children often come
in with a head full of worries
Because 1 in 10 children aged 5 to 16 experience
mental health problems…and around 1 in 7
experience less severe problems
Because periods of sadness or anxiety make
a huge impact on learning and behaviour
Because we need early intervention and
prevention – to prevent problems escalating
And children are telling us that too….
Feedback from children in the CUES randomised control trial
•Start psycho-education and building resilience early
• The normalising approach of the intervention is out of keeping
with our experience
• Mental health and emotional vulnerability aren’t spoken about
at school
• A lot of stigma still surrounds mental health issues amongst our
peer groups
 All highlights the need for a universal approach to
delivery.
 CUESed also ties in with recent Department for
Education advice about mental health and behaviour
in schools (June 2014)
Every school day is a learning day and
with every learning day comes the opportunity to
• combat stigma by normalising mental health issues from
a very young age
• help each child realise their own potential and maximise
their learning
• equip children with the skills to manage difficult feelings
that can hinder their learning - and help them negotiate
life's challenges, whether they be friendship difficulties
or passing their SATs.
How?
o
‘Who I Am and What I Can’:
How to Keep My Brain Amazing aims to
improve emotional wellbeing and
resilience in primary aged children
o
6 session whole class intervention
o
developed by SLAM Clinical
Psychologists and CBT therapists
o
help children recognise and talk about
how they feel and to develop simple
coping strategies
o
engaging and interactive sessions
drawing on a range of multi-media
sources and embedded with evidencebased CBT practice
Outcome data acceptability
45
Liked the session
9.28
How much did you like
the session today?
40
35
30
Understood the session
9.18
25
20
15
How useful
9.32
10
5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Outcome data
Very encouraging increases shown in
*active coping strategies such as ‘cognitive decision making’ ('Think if I could see
things in a different way’)
* ‘seeking understanding’ and ‘direct problem solving’
*positive cognitive restructuring (e.g. try to notice or think about good things/tell
myself I can handle it)
*support seeking strategy of 'talk to someone who can help you work out what to
do'
*distraction technique of 'doing some exercise’
*distraction technique of 'reading’
That was really
fun. I think I’ll
find it useful. I’ll
practice having a
bath before bed
I feeling better
after doing the
stuff
Comments- what would you change?
“I will like to change NOTHING . None of it x”
“I loved everything!”
“Nothing because it was brilliant”
“Bring ed and cloe the comeelion in”
“Put more music”
“Really try to bring Ed”
“Get chosen”
“Learning more stuff about brains”
Engrossed
the children
well with the
things you
were doing.
A lot of children
have gone home and
taught siblings the
breathing technique
and their parents.
It has made them
feel empowered.
• 6 whole-class psychoeducation
sessions
• additional 2 sessions covering
needs analysis and outcomes
• access to CUESed materials,
website and blog
• within session skills
development for school staff
• ‘trouble shooting’ meetings &
signposting
• making strong links with local
CAMHS