Wellbeing Champions: A Complete Toolkit for Schools

This book shows how to create a mentally healthy school by empowering young people to champion emotional wellbeing and positive mental health. It provides a practical toolkit to recruit and train Wellbeing Champions so that they can help to create an ethos and culture of positive mental health that ensures early access to the support and help needed. It explains how by focusing on emotions, selfcare, resilience, communication and support systems schools can identify what's working well and address areas for development. The detailed and user-friendly resources support every stage and include lessons and activities, supervision and training sessions, risk assessments, application forms, feedback forms and certificates. Wellbeing Champions is for primary and secondary schools who want to take a whole-school approach to improve the wellbeing of both students and staff at KS2, KS3 and KS4.

Alison Waterhouse has worked in mainstream, special education and the independent sector for the past 30 years, specialising in working with children with AEN, including Mental Health and Wellbeing. She has set up and developed an independent therapeutic special school, developed a role as Teacher in Charge of the Social and Emotional Wellbeing of the Whole School Community and has been an inclusion manager and deputy head in mainstream schools. She now works as an independent educational consultant for SEN and wellbeing, is involved in staff training and has her own educational psychotherapy practice. Alison works with children who are referred due to difficulties with self-esteem, anger, anxiety, depression and other Mental Health needs as well as children with learning differences. Alison is developing the Circles for Learning Project in schools a project that focusses on building positive foundations for mental health and wellbeing. She has undertaken a primary research project and completed an MA in educational research, looking at the impact of the Circles for Learning project in secondary schools, a project that focusses on building positive foundations for mental health and wellbeing. She has undertaken a primary research project and completed an MA in educational research, looking at the impact of the Circles for Learning project in secondary schools.

Introduction  1: Thinking and finding out  2: Selection and Training: Creating Something Special Together  3: Supervision: Reflective Practice  4: Learn, Talk and Share: Developing the Role of the Wellbeing Champions