Mental Health Awareness: Peer Education Project

At Southborough, we believe that it’s more important than ever for students to be made aware of mental illness, to understand the importance of why it can happen to anyone at any time, know what the most common signs are of it first developing and what can be done to contain and even prevent its’ onset. We also believe that it’s important to remove the stigma that often comes with mental health issues.

As a result, we implement a number of complimentary initiatives to inform and empower our students to be more aware and resilient to factors that may affect their mental health.

Earlier this year, a number of our Year 12 students took part one such initiative: a six week training programme developed by the Mental Health Foundation  called ‘Peer Education Project’ (PEP). The aim of this secondary school-based educational programme is to provide young people with the skills and knowledge they need to safeguard their mental health and –crucially – that of their peers.

Trained representatives from Kingston’s YourHealth worked closely with our Sixth Formers using tried and tested resources approved by the Mental Health Foundation. The students really enjoyed the training part of the programme, especially as it allowed them to focus on what strategies would also work for themselves as well as their younger peers. The strategies were undertaking tasks to promote mindfulness and wellbeing. Examplaes were using Lego; drawing; and experimenting with modelling clay.

Now that training is complete, our Sixth Formers - or Peer Educators – have been able to start delivering the programme.  This includes mental health awareness lessons for younger pupils within the school, known as Peer Learners, using detailed lesson plans and PowerPoint slides during PDT (Personal Development Time).

One Sixth Form Peer Educator commented: “Both the training and the detailed resources available at our disposal are brilliant, which has, in turn, given me the confidence to stand up in front of a whole class of younger students and teach them about mental health issues.”

A young Peer Learner added: “It felt quite ‘cool’ to have a Sixth Former speak to us and ask us what we really feel about mental health issues. I certainly felt that I could be more open about things on my mind.”

Southborough is delighted with the initial success of this initiative and plans to continue investing in such a valuable and rewarding programme.