School mental health program benefits teachers as well as students

School mental health program benefits teachers as well as students: With stress and anxiety currently high among many people, new Curtin research has revealed how staff at the frontline of delivering mental health promotion in our schools can be helped to manage their own mental health.

Researchers examined the effectiveness of the Mentally Healthy Schools Framework, which is based on the population-wide Act Belong Commit program in Australia and adapted to a school setting focussing not only on student wellbeing but also that of staff. Findings revealed the Framework had substantial impact on staff in terms of increased mental health literacy and 43 per cent of staff taking action to improve their mental health.

Researcher Dr Cathy Drane from Curtin’s National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, and Associate Professor Christina Pollard, Director, Mentally Healthy WA, based at Curtin’s School of Public Health, are available to be interviewed and can cover the below and similar:

• Why is the mental health of teaching staff at schools so important?
• What were the research findings in regard to the impact of the Mentally Healthy Schools Framework on teachers?
• Why are schools such an important setting for mental health promotion to prevent mental health problems?
• What benefits did staff and students experience as a result of the program?
• What resources, activities and other methods aimed at promoting mental health are included as part of the Mentally Healthy Schools Program?
• How does the program tie in with the population-wide Act-Belong-Commit mental health promotion campaign?

The Act Belong Commit Mentally Healthy Schools Program is run from within Curtin University’s Mentally Healthy WA and is funded by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation.