Childrens Mental Health - A Government PR Exercise
Natasha Devon was appointed as the schools mental health champion. It turned out that the Department for Education plotted to get rid of her for being too forthright in her social media postings [@NatashaDevonMBE]
Below I have reblogged her blog from Sept 9 Natasha Devon blog Report [2] and below that is the Guardian article of the same date that details her treatment Guardian DfE emails show officials wanted to silence mental health tsar [1] Mental Heath is extremely important issue but is still surrounded by a taboo, although that is lessening. The mental health of children perhaps even more important, as children are still developing and patterns for life are being set down. Childrens mental health is perhaps also an indicator of the health of the society that the children are brought up. The way the government regards and treats mental health and the people who are vulnerable is a measure of that government. It appears that this government exposes its mental health policy as a public relations exercise. Many victims and survivors of child sexual abuse are no strangers to the mental health problems brought on by being abused by those in positions of power over them. Natasha Devon is one of the people with passion and morals to fight for those maybe less able to fight for themselves, through no fault of their own. Thankyou Natasha Devon Natasha Devons Blog Report [2] In July 2016 I was given what I now realise was the largely meaningless, tokenistic role of government ‘Mental Health Champion’. Almost immediately the news was announced people began ringing and emailing me – People in real distress, people who had been campaigning for years to achieve a relatively simple change which would dramatically improve their mental health, or would have prevented the loss of a loved-one to suicide and people who wanted me to come and see the wonderful work they were doing in schools. I also at this time sought to fill in the gaps in my own knowledge, since I took the role of Mental Health Champion seriously and had been told by the DfE it was an opportunity to ‘influence policy’. At Self-Esteem Team we work with 12-18 year olds and, in collaboration with our four experts, we teach teenagers universally relevant skills for the promotion of good mental health. We might discuss specifically the four most common mental illnesses in under 21s: anxiety, depression, self-harm and eating disorders, but our remit doesn’t tend to extend beyond this. I was not, last summer, sufficiently well informed on mental health in children under the age of 12, psychosis, or the impact of bullying. I set about doing training with Mental Health First Aid England and consulting with the Anti Bullying Alliance as well as interviewing educational and paediatric psychologists to ensure I had a level of understanding which would allow me to ‘influence policy’ in the most productive way possible. When the Department for Education unceremoniously chucked me in May, I felt that it wasn’t just me who had been cast aside – It was all the people who had given up their time and expertise and who had shared their personal experiences with me. And it was a feeling I found difficult to live with. I had been compiling a report for DfE on ‘best practice’ in schools but, assuming they no longer wanted it, I changed the nature of the report to reflect all the aspects of policy, particularly within education, which I understood to be detrimental to pupil and teacher mental health and my recommendations for how this could be changed. Last week, I submitted my report to Norman Lamb and to the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Commission. I also gave the report to the excellent Cathy Newman at Channel 4, who prepared a package about its contents which aired during the news this evening and to the Guardian, who are publishing excerpts on their education pages tomorrow. In order to make my report topical and newsworthy, I included a section which revealed the details of a Subject Access Request I’d conducted after leaving DfE. These are extracts, mostly from inter-departmental emails, which reveal not only the extent of their contempt for me, but (in my opinion) how the issue of mental health is being used more broadly within government as a PR exercise and vote-winner, as opposed to something which requires tangible and immediate action. Some details from the SAR are in this week’s Times Educational Supplement, as well as in the Guardian’s piece. But I’m also determined that the ‘Thick of It’ management style at the DfE and the (hardly shocking) news that Tory politicians apparently don’t have much of a moral compass doesn’t detract from what needs to be done. So I have reproduced below the section of my report where I give my recommendations. If you would like to see the report in full (all 20,000 words of it) which contains details of the experts I sought guidance from in order to arrive at these conclusions, leave your email address and details of the organisation you represent (if appropriate) in the comments section below. I also welcome any feedback you have. Please share this blog far and wide and let’s hope that something positive comes out of the whole murky experience of my dalliances with DfE. Recommendations
PHSE (Personal Health and Social Education) made mandatory, given time within the curriculum, specially qualified teachers and an appropriate budget.
Ofsted use wellbeing criteria to analyse whether schools have found ways to meet children’s basic emotional needs (as defined in the report), as well as providing tier 1 and 2 support (as defined in the report) for children struggling with their mental and emotional health.
However, new Ofsted wellbeing criteria should not be implemented until schools have been given appropriate resources, time and budget to implement these systems.
Ofsted stop counting incidents of bullying in schools records.
DfE research and implement ways to provide therapeutic and other interventions in schools for children in emotional distress who do not meet the criteria for CAMHS (and that is not ‘peer mentoring’).
Government research and release up-to-date, nationwide mental health statistics.
Government examine the impact of its education policy on pupil and teacher wellbeing objectively, using not only a range of independent experts but also randomly selected teachers and school staff from throughout the country, who work in both the state and independent sectors.
Equal number of teachers given Mental Health First Aid training as physical first aid, either in-school or as part of their teacher training if entering the profession.
A specially-appointed ‘point of contact’ in all schools for mental health in the same way as there is for safe guarding.
Government ring-fence remaining investment into young people’s mental health to ensure Local Authorities do not spend it on other things.
NHS examine provide more extensive ‘interim support’ for children and young people waiting for a CAMHs appointment.
State schools given a budget to invest in supplementary support for their PSHE or wellbeing programmes, perhaps as part of the Local Transformation Plan initiative.
Independent enquiry into the impartiality of all government advisors.
DfE be honest on appointment of new Mental Health Champion i.e. admit that is merely a comms role and way to generate extra publicity for DfE initiatives, in order to manage public expectation.
More investment into Educational Psychology, which has been cut recently and is fundamental in understanding how to tailor interventions according to the unique needs of every child;
More importance placed on role of Teaching Assistants, who are key in providing pastoral care and often mediate the elements of school culture which are not conducive to good mental health e.g. larger class sizes and behavioural issues.
Find a way to quality assure School Counsellors e.g. all must belong to a regulating body.
All English school children to have access to a quality-assured school counsellor (as is the case in Wales and Northern Ireland).
CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) follow up missed appointments with lots of appropriate reassurance and not allow young people to ‘drop off the radar’.
CAMHS offices made more welcoming for children and young people and CAMHS workers trained specifically in how to deal with children and young people.
DfE emails show officials wanted to silence mental health tsar
Natasha Devon has obtained emails revealing education department worked against her because she criticised policy
Devon, who was dropped from her role after she repeatedly argued that the government’s own education policies were contributing to poor mental health among young people, said the DfE emails confirmed her fears that the department had been trying to silence her. In March, two months before her role was axed, one DfE official wrote that although they wanted to avoid the appearance that the department was dropping her because of her criticism, “it cannot be feasible that she continues”.
Sacked children's mental health tsar Natasha Devon: 'I was proper angry' In another email a month later, an official wrote: “Every day is another day she could be saying something damaging – and if that happens we will kick ourselves for not acting sooner.” But after the Guardian broke the news that Devon would be axed, she received a text that read: “What the Guardian have printed is ludicrous – We want to work with you more, not less!” After reading the emails, Devon said they showed that the government’s policies on children’s mental health was little more than “a PR exercise” and confirmed her fears at the time that the department had been trying to silence her. She said the emails revealed a government more worried about her comments on Twitter than the crisis in mental health among young people. “I can’t believe the ineptitude,” she said. “It’s like a script from [the BBC political satire] The Thick of It.” Devon, who was appointed with some fanfare by the government in August 2015 to raise awareness of and reduce the stigma surrounding young people’s mental health, put in a subject access request to see government emails concerning her role after her dismissal in May. At one point one official exclaims: “I know I keep saying this but please can everyone monitor her Twitter?” Elsewhere the tone changes. After the news broke that her role was being cut, one DfE email read: “I think we now need to take ND down a peg or two.” A couple of days later, another said: “She is having her fifteen minutes and hopefully she is nearly at the end.” Devon, who has almost a decade of experience of working in schools as the founder of the Self-Esteem Team and Body Gossip which deliver mental health education to young people, said her experience of working with government had “played havoc” with her own mental health. Child mental health crisis 'worse than suspected' When she was appointed she was told it was an important role – though unpaid to ensure impartiality – and would give her an opportunity to influence policy. In the end, it was “window dressing”, to help the government get coverage on GMTV and in other lifestyle media, she said. Though Devon was hired because of her ability to talk to young people, department officials objected to her choice of language on social media. When she uses the word “dickwad” in response to a story about a young woman being bullied for speaking out about sexism, one DfE email reads: “It is obviously totally unacceptable for a government-endorsed champion to swear and use offensive terms as she does … I have just called Natasha and she was surprisingly unapologetic.”Asked on Friday to respond to the internal emails and Devon’s criticism of the government’s policies on young people’s mental health, a DfE spokesperson said: “Natasha did a great job of helping us to raise the profile of young people’s mental health during her appointment. “Since that time, the independent NHS taskforce report has been published which recommended that a cross-government mental health champion be created – for this reason we had to reconsider the department’s own role.” Devon has now compiled a comprehensive report on children’s and young people’s mental health. It outlines her concerns about the state of children and young people’s mental health and why she believes the government response is inadequate. She has visited an average of three schools a week and has worked with more than 45,000 teenagers. She is concerned that young people’s mental health is being used by the government as “positive PR” rather than something taken seriously. The report claims that despite the best efforts of teachers, the culture and environment of most schools – with large class sizes, an increasingly academic curriculum and a testing regime – conspire against high self-esteem and good mental health. She calls for properly funded, mandatory personal, social, health and and economic lessons – including sex, mental health and body image education - to be delivered an hour a week by properly trained staff. She wants mental health education tailored specifically for boys and young men who are less likely to speak out about problems. Devon also raises concerns about the underfunding of child and adolescent mental health services and their increasingly fraught relationship with schools, and highlights concerns about austerity policies that she says have impacted on young people and their mental health. “Teenagers do not vote, or if they do they are very unlikely to vote Conservative. Therefore, their social needs as a demographic are not being acknowledged or prioritised under the current government. One of the consequences of this is the current crisis in young people’s mental health.” If anyone has any good mental health links please add them in comments
Please note that victims of abuse may be triggered by reading this information. These links are generally UK based.
The Sanctuary for the Abused [A] has advice on how to prevent triggers.
National Association for People Abused in Childhood [B] has a freephone helpline and has links to local support groups.
Other useful sites are One in Four [C]
and Havoca [D].
Jim Hoppers pages on Mindfulness[G] and Meditation[H] may be useful.
Hwaairfan blog An Indigenous Australian Approach to Healing Trauma[J]
Survivors UK for victims and survivors of male rape or the sexual abuse of men [K]
Voicing CSA group [L] helps arrange survivors meetings in your area
Links [1] 2016 Sept 9 Guardian DfE emails show officials wanted to silence mental health tsar https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/sep/09/dfe-emails-reveal-officials-wanted-silence-mental-health-tsar-natasha-devon?CMP=share_btn_tw [2] 2016 Sept 9 Natasha Devon blog Report https://thetruthandagoodstory.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/report/ [3] Twitter @NatashaDevonMBE [A] Sanctuary for the Abused http://abusesanctuary.blogspot.co.uk/2006/07/for-survivors-coping-with-triggers-if.html [B] NAPAC http://www.napac.org.uk/ [C] One in Four http://www.oneinfour.org.uk/ [D] Havoca http://www.havoca.org/HAVOCA_home.htm [E] SurvivorsJustice Triggers post http://survivorsjustice.com/2014/02/26/triggers-what-are-they-and-how-do-we-work-through-them/ [F] SurvivorsJustice Blog http://survivorsjustice.com/ [G] Jim Hopper Mindfulness http://www.jimhopper.com/mindfulness/ [H] Jim Hopper Meditation http://www.jimhopper.com/mindfulness/#cultivate [J] 2016 Jan 5 Hwaairfan blog An Indigenous Australian Approach to Healing Trauma https://hwaairfan.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/an-indigenous-australian-approach-to-healing-trauma/ [K] Survivors UK website for victims and survivors of male rape or the sexual abuse of men https://www.survivorsuk.org/ and twitter https://twitter.com/SurvivorsUK [L] Voicing CSA website – http://voicingcsa.uk/ helps arrange survivors meetings in your area. Voicing CSA supports the IICSA and VSCP and works to help adult survivors of child sexual abuse find their voice This is all written in good faith but if there is anything that needs to be corrected please email health@cathyfox.33mail.com cathyfox the truth will out, the truth will shout, the truth will set us free “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” – Edmund Burke “He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.” Charles Peguy To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards out of men – Ella Wheeler Wilcox