How schools can help support your child’s mental health and wellbeing

Most mental health issues emerge during adolescence. Parents and carers are often best placed to notice these changes.

There’s a strong connection between your child’s wellbeing and their school attendance, engagement, and academic outcomes. Being engaged in education protects and supports a person’s mental health across their lifetime.

Schools support students to develop the capabilities necessary to thrive and the resilience needed to navigate challenges when they arise.

Schools use various strategies and programs to support student wellbeing and mental health. They’re designed to meet all children’s needs, wherever their mental health sits along the mental health continuum.

Three types of strategies schools use are:

• School-wide mental health and wellbeing promotion: Support all students to build the social and emotional skills and capabilities that promote life-long mental health and wellbeing.
• Early targeted support: Identify and support students with emerging or moderate mental health concerns.
• Targeted or crisis response: Support students with complex mental health needs.

School-wide mental health and wellbeing promotion

Whole-school approaches benefit all students.

These programs help schools to:

• create a positive, inclusive, and supportive school environment
• build the conditions for optimal student learning, development, and wellbeing
• promote positive mental health
• develop every student’s social, emotional, and behavioural abilities.

Whole-school approaches can be used at a school, year, or classroom level. They can be delivered by school staff or by community organisations or agencies.

Your school chooses the whole-school approaches that suit the local needs of your school community. Talk to your school for more information.

Early targeted support

Early targeted support builds on the whole-school approaches.

In partnership with families, schools may identify students with emerging or moderate mental health concerns. They can step in early to prevent issues from becoming more serious.

Schools may support individual students or groups of students. Or they may connect students with external supports or services that can help.

Targeted response and crisis response

If your child needs specialised mental health support, your school can help you find services or get referrals for specialist services.

These supports generally take place outside the school setting and involve a medical professional.