In a nationwide survey 54 per cent of head teachers complained that local mental healthservices were ineffective in supporting the needs of pupils.
Nearly half the heads (47 per cent) said their increasing workloads were affecting their ability to identify pupils’ mental health difficulties at a time when such problems are on the rise in schools.
The survey, by the CentreForum Mental Health Commission also found that one in 10 schools still had no mental health and wellbeing training available for staff, in spite of Government pledges, and 65 per cent were not even assessing the mental health needs of their pupils.
The report comes at a time when emotional and behaviour problems among younger children are increasing because of higher divorce rates, financial pressures at home and the growing influence of social media.
More than 45% of men who responded to a survey* by Samaritans said they felt more worried at Christmas than other times of the year.
The findings come with a reminder that volunteers from the charity’s 201 branches will be available round the clock over the festive period, for anyone who needs to talk.
The online survey found that of the male respondents:
Almost half (48%) feel sad or depressed at Christmas time
45% of men feel that others expect them to be happy at Christmas when they are not
More than a third (37%) of men admitted to feeling lonely at Christmas
30% of men felt stressed or anxious at Christmas time
E£12m boost to get mental health patients back to workmployment advisers and GPs will also receive training to identify mental health issues and recognise the role of work in improving mental health.
Those of us who have been campaigning over the last few years to save public services from government cuts and austerity have been known to say, only half jokingly, that when the Tories are done, there will be “nothing left”. But this isn’t true. Tory austerity measures are a full on ideological assault. Their economic policy masks a concerted attempt to demonise the poorest and encourage people to think that the unemployed, the ill, the disabled, immigrants, asylum seekers and the old aren’t “deserving”. Thus the future is not one without public services. It is one where minimal services are delivered, by privatised corporations, to those who are deemed worthy.
Oldham MP Debbie Abrahams has sensationally accused the Government of contributing to the deaths of vulnerable people due to sanctioning benefit claims in order to improve figures.
The Oldham East and Saddleworth constituent publicly lambasted the secretary of state for work and pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, at a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Select Committee yesterday.
Millions of UK workers fear reporting mental health conditions !
Huge numbers of UK workers are hiding mental health conditions from their employers for fear of it affecting their job, according to Friends Life.
A poll from One Poll for the insurance firm, which surveyed more than 2,000 people, found that more than 50% of all workers believe being open about a common mental health problem would damage their career prospects.
The UK working-age population is more than 38 million, according to the Office for National Statistics.
So more than 19 million workers in the UK could be worried about reporting a common mental health problem to their employers.
The head of Unison has urged NHS staff to ‘keep on fighting’ after six different unions in Manchester took part in the first nationwide health service walkout for 32 years.
The strike was triggered by the coalition government’s decision to refuse NHS staff the 1% pay rise recommended by an independent pay review body and sparked further outrage after the proposal to award MPs a 9% pay rise earlier this year.
TVs, computers and smart phones should be banned from children’s bedrooms as part of a “five-a-day”-style approach to mental health, according to a leading private school headmaster.
Clear routines – similar to those designed to boost consumption of fruit and vegetables – are needed to insulate pupils from the pressures of modern life, said Adam Pettitt, head of Highgate School, north London.
He said pupils needed more sleep, free of distractions such as Facebook and Instagram, to combat a rise in the number of children with low self-esteem, depression and anxiety.
