Over seventy professionals have attended the launch of the Compassionate Schools Hub, an online resource to support mental health support in schools.

Lancashire County Council commissioned and funded the Hub with £64,000 for Lancashire Emotional Health in Schools and Colleges Service (LEHSS), which is a team of clinical psychologists based at Lancaster University’s Faculty of Health and Medicine.

The Hub aims to offer support to all staff within all school-age education settings in Lancashire around children and young people’s mental health and staff wellbeing.

The training is delivered by Lancaster University clinical psychologists who are experienced at working in children’s mental health services.

The service will also deliver workshops to pupils and parents to help them better understand mental health and how to improve well-being.

The launch event at Brockholes Nature Reserve included leaders from Lancashire schools and colleges, Lancashire County Council staff, and representatives from NHS mental health services.

At the event, LEHSS staff introduced and demonstrated the Compassionate Schools Hub, as well as information on developing compassion as an evidence-based way to improve our wellbeing.

Clinical Psychologist Dr Richard Slinger from Lancaster University said: “The Hub website will allow a senior member of staff in every school and college to audit themselves against the Department for Education and OFSTED principles of best practice for a whole setting approach to mental health and receive comprehensive summary reports with personalised recommendations for their setting.

“Schools can also use the Hub to post examples of success and good practice to share with other settings, for the benefit of all. LEHSS will use the Hub to give schools and colleges the ‘Compassionate School Award’ when they complete a checklist of tasks relating to implementing good practice for mental health support.”

Research shows that mental health difficulties in children and young people have risen sharply over the last few years, with the most recent survey indicating that in 2023, around one in every five children and young people aged 8-25 had a mental health difficulty. In addition, the wellbeing of teachers in the UK has been described as being in crisis.