Can schools facilitate early identification of mental health difficulties?

Under-identification of mental health need contributes to the mental health care gap for children and young people.

In this talk, Emma Soneson will discuss how schools may be able to help bridge this gap through early identification programmes.

The talk will include an overview of the international evidence for school-based identification followed by an in-depth look into local evidence generated as part of two UK-based studies.

First, Emma will give an overview of the Developing Early Identification and Access in Learning Environments (DEAL) Study, which used stakeholder consensus to develop a new identification programme for UK primary schools. Then, she will share exciting new findings from a feasibility study of an online, low-intensity teacher training programme to improve the identification of and response to mental health difficulties in primary schools.

The talk will close with wider implications for policy and practice.