A Mental Health Champion is a person who can comfortably start conversations about mental health. Talking about mental health at school can be daunting: people may worry about how they will be treated and how their friends and family will react.
Mrs Pugh and Ms Smith have both been trained in mental health first aid and are the Mental Health Champions for Birchensale Middle School. They work in school to make mental health a normal topic of conversation, dispelling myths and making it easier for our pupils, families and staff to seek support. They also support staff to spot signs and symptoms of common mental health issues, provide non-judgmental support and reassurance, and guide the young person or adult to seek professional support they may need to recover.
Mrs Pugh and Ms Smith can be contacted via the school office on 01527 68430 or by email: sp125@birchensale.worcs.sch.uk and rs235@birchensale.worcs.sch.uk
Our vision of a great Mental Health Champion is someone who makes a difference because they are:
- Passionate about helping people to understand that mental health belongs to everybody by getting everyone to talk about mental health.
- Able to give time to undertake meaningful activities that help people to change the way they think and act about mental health.
- Willing to engage families constructively and positively when taking action to tackle mental health stigma encouraging others to do so too.
- Keen to spread the word about Time to Change and what the campaign has to offer to organisations.
- Able to empower other members of staff to share their experiences of mental health problems in the workplace and encourage them to become Champions too.