[mcs31]

Hey everyone,
I was at a festival on Friday and a charity worker came up to me and asked me to take a survey. As I filled it in I realized how many people I knew had been affected by mental health problems, and how schools never really gave us any information..

I've just had a flick through the national curriculum for PSHE and I couldn't find any specific mentions of mental health education either.

So, I was wondering if anyone had any experiences with school education into mental health and how useful they found it, and any ideas on what people think schools could do to inform and educate in a positive way.

I personally think schools could have a massive role in helping people recognize issues and allowing them to be made more aware of the help and organisations out there, but I am really interested in everyone's opinions and thoughts

[superwolf]

I've thought about this myself before - I never received any education about mental health issues at school, which I reckon is pretty appalling. From a personal point of view if I'd known more about mental health issues I might have picked up on my own depression earlier, and sought help for it earlier too (and I know a lot of other people delay seeking help too, to their detriment). Plus of course there's the stigma of mental illness that still needs to be overcome. A basic education about mental health problems could do a lot to help these problems I reckon.

[mcs31]

(Original post by superwolf)
I've thought about this myself before - I never received any education about mental health issues at school, which I reckon is pretty appalling. From a personal point of view if I'd known more about mental health issues I might have picked up on my own depression earlier, and sought help for it earlier too (and I know a lot of other people delay seeking help too, to their detriment). Plus of course there's the stigma of mental illness that still needs to be overcome. A basic education about mental health problems could do a lot to help these problems I reckon.

I totally agree with you. I also think that the more people are educated, particularly in Key Stage 3, the less likely there is to be a stigma in the future as younger people are often more accepting of others.

[concubine]

Eh.


Mental health issues are becoming more recognized and accepted in society, and if anything I found that they were all too often glamorized whilst I was at school.

[superwolf]

(Original post by concubine)
Eh.


Mental health issues are becoming more recognized and accepted in society, and if anything I found that they were all too often glamorized whilst I was at school.

You mean the kids glamorised them, or you had actual lessons about mental health problems which you think glamorised them?

[d123]

When it is taught, it's done badly in my experience.

Case in point. PSHE lesson in Year 9. Survey we had to do, one of the questions was 'Everyone who self harms is only doing it for attention'.

There were 25 of us. 23 agreed with the statement, only 2 of us, me and one other girl, disagreed.

No wonder I'm so screwed up, and no wonder it took me so long to seek professional help, when that's the dominant attitude.

[OU Student]

We never had any mental education whilst at school. In fact, disability education was awful. All they did was mention the the wheelchair users in school and the girl who walks with a bit of a limp.

[concubine]

(Original post by superwolf)
You mean the kids glamorised them, or you had actual lessons about mental health problems which you think glamorised them?

Obviously the former.

[superwolf]

(Original post by concubine)
Obviously the former.

Then surely that's all the more reason to educate them properly? You don't want kids going round thinking self-harm and suicide are cool. And when young people self-diagnose themselves with something like OCD or bipolar without actually knowing what they're talking about, it can make genuine sufferers feel that their illness is less valid, and people won't take them seriously.

You wouldn't think we shouldn't educate about drugs because they're already seen as cool would you?

[concubine]

(Original post by superwolf)
Then surely that's all the more reason to educate them properly? You don't want kids going round thinking self-harm and suicide are cool. And when young people self-diagnose themselves with something like OCD or bipolar without actually knowing what they're talking about, it can make genuine sufferers feel that their illness is less valid, and people won't take them seriously.

You wouldn't think we shouldn't educate about drugs because they're already seen as cool would you?

I never said that.


I was just implying that the way that the whole thing has been treated in schools ****ing sucks.

[charlottehattonx]

I never had any education on Mental Health issues in school and I feel I should have. Mental health problems come in many forms and aren't necessarily so obvious sometimes and I know if people know somebody has bipolar disorder they tend to shy away because they have no idea what it is, they just think it's bad when in actual fact I know a nurse with bipolar.

Students that leave school are so unprepared for the outside world and the things they come into contact with, even the sex education class we had was just a cartoon video of people having sex and a woman giving birth. We know about sex by secondary school we know how it works and that it makes babies, we just don't fully know the implications it can have.

I think we should change those rubbish citizenship classes, where you have to draw posters on things like 'health and safety in school' and draw all the things that the school use to make things safe which is ridiculously boring primary school stuff. & put on sessions like these.

[superwolf]

(Original post by concubine)
I never said that.


I was just implying that the way that the whole thing has been treated in schools ****ing sucks.

Fair enough. Just from your original post it sounded to me like you didn't think there was a need for mental health education.

[Sabertooth]

I didn't have any mental health teaching at school. It probably would have been a good idea, looking back now I can see I was clearly depressed at 15 and had I had some classes about it, maybe I would have realized and got help before it got a lot worse.

Someone on here made a thread a couple of weeks back with one of those government petition things about teaching about mental health issues in schools, you might want to check it out OP.

[mcs31]

(Original post by Sabertooth)
I didn't have any mental health teaching at school. It probably would have been a good idea, looking back now I can see I was clearly depressed at 15 and had I had some classes about it, maybe I would have realized and got help before it got a lot worse.

Someone on here made a thread a couple of weeks back with one of those government petition things about teaching about mental health issues in schools, you might want to check it out OP.

I shall, thank you

[King Kebab]

(Original post by superwolf)
I've thought about this myself before - I never received any education about mental health issues at school, which I reckon is pretty appalling. From a personal point of view if I'd known more about mental health issues I might have picked up on my own depression earlier, and sought help for it earlier too (and I know a lot of other people delay seeking help too, to their detriment). Plus of course there's the stigma of mental illness that still needs to be overcome. A basic education about mental health problems could do a lot to help these problems I reckon.

I couldn't agree more. Good post.

[mcs31]

(Original post by concubine)
I never said that.


I was just implying that the way that the whole thing has been treated in schools ****ing sucks.

I thought this might be the case in a lot of schools. Do you have any ideas on how it could've been better in your school? Maybe if it was taught through charities coming into schools? I think a lot of schools do that with sexual health and drugs education

[OU Student]

(Original post by mcs31)
Maybe if it was taught through charities coming into schools? I think a lot of schools do that with sexual health and drugs education

I think this would make more sense.I found that teachers only focused (this was for disability education) on the visible disabilities that people in school had. So, there was nothing about learning disabilities or sensory impairment.

[Anonymous]

I remember having a very brief session on it, but we weren't really taught anything, and definitely not in any detail. I definitely think that it should be put into the curriculum so that people actually understand it and what it entails - not only will that increase recognition of mental illnesses, but I think the only way that stigma and discrimination can really be broken down is if people actually understand the issues at stake.

I agree with mcs31's suggestion that charities come in to educate people about it - they understand the issues in much greater depth, and can probably give much more detailed and specialised information than a teacher can in a PSHE session. However, funding cuts and stuff might make this difficult.

One thing that bugs me is people saying that they're so depressed because of something quite trivial... There is a massive difference between feeling down about something and being depressed, and I think that people saying that they're really depressed because of something undermines people with the illness, and again degrades its severity.

[forgetamine]

I learned something about self harm at school when I was about 11-12, I was too young to understand it though. Apart from that I never had any education about mental health. The stuff they taught us about drug addiction, self harm etc. was absolute bull****.

[BananaSkins]

Never had any lessons whatsoever about mental health, etc. Would have been so helpful to a lot of people I know. I like the idea of charities/experts coming in to talk about it - they know the subject thoroughly and know how to convey the important points clearly. Also, I find that kids are often more willing to listen to an outsider who comes in to teach them than one of their regular teachers.