Launching the School Mental Health Innovation Network

To read more about the SMHIN, read this blog post: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/launching-the-school-mental-health-innovation-network

Since the pandemic, there’s been a substantial increase in children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing needs. Children and young people can struggle to find support due to health inequalities and barriers to accessing clinical care. As a result, schools are increasingly relied upon to support students and their families with mental health difficulties, often without adequate resources, training, or support.

While research on children and young people's mental health and wellbeing is growing, the interventions available often fail to address the specific needs of schools. Many are too costly to implement, do not align with school priorities, or lack a strong evidence base. This leaves a gap between available research and the practical needs of school communities.

To bridge this gap, the School Mental Health Innovation Network (SMHIN) was established by the Maudsley Education Consultation Service in collaboration with the King’s Maudsley Partnership for Children and Young People. This initiative aims to equip schools with tailored, evidence-based interventions and resources that address the specific mental health and wellbeing concerns in their school communities, in a way that is relevant and accessible.

The Maudsley Education Consultation Service (MECS) has close ties with the CAMHS Digital Lab. Four members and affiliates of the CAMHS Digital Lab are also members of MECS: Jessica Penhallow, William Bennett, Nour Saba and Arjoon Arunasalam. In additition, MECS are a key user of myJournE - a platform developed by the CAMHS Digital Lab in collaboration with young people - to conduct surveys of students and their parents/carers, generating crucial insights for local schools into the mental health needs of their student body.

Two members of the CAMHS Digital Lab spoke at the inaugural SMHIN workshop. Jessica Penhallow (Programme Manager) presented myHealthE and how it is being used by teachers to share outcome measures with clinicians and support the care of young people in CAMHS. Dr Alice Wickersham (Academic Lead) spoke on the intersections between mental health and education and presented innovative uses of linked administrative data which are being used to better understand the impact of mental health issues on educational outcomes.