Norfolk counsellor calls for 'culture change' to recognise importance of emotional intelligence
A new study shows doing activities based around mindfulness and relaxation helps pupils cope and deal with difficult emotions
A private counsellor in Norfolk is telling us a culture change based around the importance of emotional intelligence is needed - to improve the next generation's mental health.
It's as a government backed study, involving 500 schools in England, shows doing activities based around mindfulness and relaxation helps pupils cope and deal with difficult emotions.
Ruth Noble works in Diss.
She told us why things like this can be so successful: "It's so helpful having awareness of how much of a certain emotion is normal and knowing when it becomes abnormal and someone should seek help.
"We should also work on strategies to help get through periods where it's all too much...
"As a culture, we could all do with having a bit more space and emotional intelligence and support and acceptance from each other to actually have emotions."
She told us how we can all improve our emotional adaptability: "Trying things out and being flexible - see how something makes you feel.
"Then you can decide whether to do it again or drop it if it doesn't make you feel good...
"Try not to feel afraid for feeling a certain way. Share things with your friends and tell them when you're sad. Then if other people are having similar experiences it feels more normal."
More about the study
Experts analysed several strategies aimed at promoting children's mental wellbeing and found some worked, while some appeared to have the opposite effect.
Led by the Evidence Based Practice Unit, a collaboration between the Anna Freud charity and University College London (UCL), and funded by the Department for Education (DfE), a trial into the strategies ran from 2018 to 2024.
It involved 32,655 students in 513 schools across England and tested school-based interventions aimed at boosting mental health awareness and promoting mental health and wellbeing.
The results showed that one intervention - Strategies for Safety and Wellbeing (SSW) - had the best overall effect.
SSW helps students normalise everyday emotions, such as stress and sadness, better understand how to differentiate them from mental ill health and know where to go for support.
It was found to significantly improve mental health literacy - specifically the intention to seek help if mental health problems arise in the future - in primary schools and, when implemented in full, a significant rise in mental health literacy was seen in secondary schools.
Two other strategies - mindfulness-based exercises and relaxation techniques - were trialled in primary (Years 4 and 5) and secondary schools (Years 7 and 8).
The relaxation technique course, made up of daily five-minute relaxation-based sessions, significantly reduced emotional difficulties when delivered frequently and consistently in primary schools, and most helped children from ethnic minority groups.
However, in secondary schools, there was evidence that emotional difficulties actually increased significantly with the frequency.
Meanwhile, mindfulness, which involved training teachers to deliver daily five-minute mindfulness sessions in class, reduced emotional difficulties when delivered frequently in secondary schools.
However, in primary schools there was evidence it could increase emotional difficulties, including in youngsters with special educational needs and prior emotional problems.
Overall, the researchers said the positive effects seen were small but, when amplified across the population, they still translate into "meaningful change".
"Schools have a critical role to play in the wellbeing of children"
Chief investigator Jess Deighton, professor in child mental health and wellbeing at the UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, said: "Schools have a critical role to play in the wellbeing of children and young people and, with the right tools, can even help to prevent mental health challenges."
She added: "A key takeaway is for schools to pick evidence-based mental health approaches and monitor their impact.
"We found that some of the interventions trialled are only effective when delivered in full or for certain groups, but can cause unintended consequences for some.
"The most promising intervention - Strategies for Safety and Wellbeing - is designed to help children and young people before potential problems escalate into mental ill health by normalising everyday emotions and showing where to find support if needed.
"This taps into what schools are already doing, but provides structured and comprehensive guidance to support staff in delivering these messages.
"It's important to remember the impact of these interventions alone is small, and should be part of a wider, whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing.
"This involves building supportive relationships and a sense of belonging across the whole school community, as well as ensuring more targeted support for those that need it.
"As this was the first time these interventions were trialled in England, more research is needed to help us understand potential negative consequences and how these can be negated."
What does the Government say?
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Through our plan for change, it is the Government's mission to make sure every young person can achieve and thrive.
"Currently, too many children and young people are waiting too long to access the mental health support they need, making it all the more vital that promising studies like these can identify evidence-based early interventions to address problems before they escalate."
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