Mental Health & Wellbeing – Curriculum for Wales
Mental health and wellbeing remains at the top of the agenda for Wales, set out initially in the ten year strategy ‘Together for Mental Health’ and continuing to be held as a priority in terms of ethos, policy and implementation across the whole of Wales.
A comprehensive new curriculum has been launched, with Health and Wellbeing as one of the ‘Core Areas of Learning’ and highlighted as a key priority for developing whole school approaches and a wellbeing culture set out in the Welsh Government document: Framework on embedding a whole-school approach to emotional and mental well-being.¹
In this blog we aim to highlight the mental health and wellbeing focus across Wales and the commitment to informed approaches to equip young people with the social and emotional skills for lifelong wellness and the capacity to thrive, as well as to draw awareness to our comprehensive Hamish & Milo Emotions curriculum and SEMH intervention programme which aligns with the Welsh Government principles, vision and intention for all children and young people.
The commitment at a national level to provide a rich and innovative curriculum is a central priority. The Welsh Government Policy states:
“Improving education is our national mission. Nothing is so essential as universal access to, and acquisition of, the experiences, knowledge and skills that our young people need for employment, lifelong learning and active citizenship.”²
Clear framework and shared vision
The Curriculum for Wales guidance provides a clear framework, shared vision and aspiration for what is important in delivering a broad and balanced education and the ‘What matters statements’ within each of the curriculum strands highlight the core elements that underpin the learning experience for all children. The statements for the Health and wellbeing strand provide the vision and outcomes for all children and the values that aim to offer children the social and emotional skills necessary to ‘navigate life’s opportunities and challenges.’³
What matters statements:
What we can see here is a framework that builds on the aspiration to provide all children with lifelong skills, values and knowledge for them to thrive as citizens. At Hamish & Milo we are acutely aware of the need for a Health and Wellbeing focus embedded within PSHE and delivered at a universal level to enable children’s social and emotional development.
We believe in the principles within each of the ‘What matters statements’ and in the fundamental need for children to have opportunities to increase their self-awareness and to grow socially and emotionally.
We recognise the importance for children to align their physical and mental health, to understand how we process and respond to our experiences and to have access to psychoeducation to make sense of what is happening in our lives and to develop social and emotional skills and resilience.
We recognise the importance of empowering children to make informed decisions, to feel confident in expressing themselves and to have the focus on children’s voices as a central part of a whole school approach. Embedded as a core principle throughout the delivery, approach and content of Hamish & Milo are relationships, the pivotal importance of enabling children to feel loveable and cared for, to develop communication skills, empathy, social, emotional skills and social awareness to develop and sustain healthy relationships throughout life.
We understand the importance of acknowledging the educators, the pastoral staff and trusted adults who have children in their care and how their wellbeing is essential too in being able to work alongside and support the children they work with. We are passionate in providing support, training and the materials to enable staff to have deeper conversations with children about their lives and experiences and aim to equip them with the confidence to speak about a range of emotions and experiences that may be uncomfortable as well as enlightening in the lives of their children.
Hamish & Milo provides an emotions curriculum that compliments and aligns with the Health and Wellbeing area of learning for Wales.
The principles are embedded through descriptive content, creative activities, and a framework across ten emotion themes; friendship, resilience, anxiety, diversity, angry feelings, change and transition, conflict, loss, sadness and self-esteem.
The programme is flexible yet offers a structure to guide and support staff to develop the social and emotional skills of children by providing materials that deepen conversations and opportunities for children’s voices to be heard.
In recent years there has been considerable work across Wales in relation to the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) following the research in the Public Health Wales report in 2016 and this has been built upon through the education sector by ACE support Hubs, aimed at equipping teachers and other school staff with the tools to identify and address the impact of ACEs for children within school communities.
Research has found that for every 100 adults in Wales, 47 suffered at least one ACE during their childhood and 14 suffered four or more.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences research, Wales 2016, has shown that experiencing ACEs can have a long-term impact on mental and physical health and wellbeing. Research led policy, The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study 2016 and subsequent ACE aware approaches and policy development, has led to ACE hubs across Wales and Trauma Informed Practice. With the Government ‘Review of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) policy: How the ACE policy has performed and how it can be developed in the future’ published in March 2021, Wales is setting a bar on promoting Trauma Informed and ACE Aware policy and practice.
“Many of the stakeholders, including those based outside Wales, felt Wales was seen as leading the way on tackling ACEs. This was particularly because of the work of Public Health Wales and its World Health Organisation Centre on Investment for Health and Wellbeing, the research it had undertaken on ACEs, and the Welsh Government’s early adoption of the ACEs framework.”⁴
Hamish & Milo is based around trauma-informed and attachment-aware principles.
It provides insight and the psychoeducation to support trusted adults to support young people to speak about and express their emotions and experiences. The central approach is to enable children to feel ‘happier, heard and connected’ and to have support networks that create safe and secure attachments and relationships.
Having a trusted adult who is empathic, emotionally aware and containing has been cited as the greatest protective factor for children’s immediate and long-term wellbeing and is vital within our education settings and learning experiences.
The Review of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) policy: How the ACEs policy has performed and how it can be developed in the future’ published in March 2021 highlights that ‘having at least one trusted, stable and supportive relationship with an adult is emerging as one of the most important aspects of childhood resilience.’
This has been reinforced through ACE Support Hub training in education settings and identified as ‘a foundation on which to build whole-school approaches.’¹
At Hamish & Milo we are acutely aware of the need for a wellbeing and emotions curriculum as well as targeted mental health and SEMH provision as an enhanced layer of intervention for children who ‘need support over and above universal provision’ and who may have experienced ACEs.
Our comprehensive emotions curriculum provides an explicit framework to enhance PSHE delivery through the ten emotion themes. Detailed session plans, impact measurement tools, wellbeing journals, sock puppet kits and guidance provide trusted adults with a wealth of resources to ensure children’s emotional development and skills whilst enabling them to feel valued and heard.
The approach is centred around trusted adults developing a safe and secure environment for children to be able to talk about and express their feelings and experiences in a small group or nurture provision. Highlighted in the Welsh Government report; Framework on embedding a whole-school approach to emotional and mental well-being is the recognition that direct interventions can include nurture group provision, emotional literacy support from ELSAs and evidence-based approaches delivered by ‘a trusted adult who they know well.’¹ The report highlights how trusted adults who children know well ‘can be far more therapeutic than being referred to a remote professional that they have never met before and have to wait several weeks to see.’
The premise of Hamish & Milo is for trusted adults, that children know well and feel emotionally safe and secure with to facilitate small group intervention. This small group experience helps children to talk about their experiences and emotions through sensitive and expressive activities, small group discussion and a togetherness that allows them to feel supported and not alone with big emotions.
The report highlights how trusted adults who children know well ‘can be far more therapeutic than being referred to a remote professional that they have never met before and have to wait several weeks to see.’
In conclusion we hope to have acknowledged the leading strategy, principles and approach across Wales to create a society that is Trauma and ACEs aware and where mental health and wellbeing is the central most strand throughout the education system. Our mission at Hamish & Milo is to support schools to provide an enriched and empowering mental health curriculum and we recognise the Welsh nations aspiration to create learning environments that enable children to develop as ‘healthy, confident individuals who are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.’
Against a backdrop of national focus on emotional and mental health for children we aim to champion this cause and to support schools and settings to provide a learning experience that equips them for learning and life.
