Dawnay and South Bookham schools get mental health grants

But secondary schools have not taken up the grant offer

'Feeling Good Week' attacks stigma about revealing feelings

The Dawnay and South Bookham Schools are among over 100 Surrey schools which will be taking part in Feeling Good Week next week. But though the Howard, Therfield and other Surrey secondary schools have been sent information packs they have not applied for the available grants.
Feeling Good Week, held this year between July 3 and 7, has been held since 2004 to combat mental illness among students. Surrey Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), wants to help the students dispel the stigma that, especially among boys, attaches to revealing feelings, and encourage all pupils to ask for help if they feel they need it. �Communicating our emotions promotes better mental health,� says CAMHS.
Last year Surrey suggested that �over 10,000 children and young people in Surrey could be classed as having a mental health problem.� Most were �conduct disorders�, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), anxiety disorders and bed-wetting. Some children also suffer from exam stress and depression, eating disorders, and self-harm. Sometimes the children need hospital treatment.
Every Surrey school has received a resource pack filled with exercises, lesson plans and posters and postcards. This year�s message to participants is that �communicating our emotions and feelings helps us to have good mental health.� And 102 schools, including the two in Bookham, have applied for the �70 grants to help support activities during the week.
South Bookham School will buy new tools for a garden project
The Dawnay School will walk to Polesden Lacey as a way of exploring the link between a healthy body and a healthy mind. The Surrey website also mentions �Emotion paintings,� and �work around emotional literacy�.
Asked why the list of participating schools included hardly any secondary schools, a CAMHS spokeswoman said, �We sent packs to every school in Surrey, including secondary schools. It just appears that there has been take up from primary schools.�
This doesn�t mean the secondary schools aren't doing anything, she added, just that havent' applied for a grant.
�To help us engage with secondary school pupils this year we produced a resource pack tailored to that age group. Perhaps next year we need to build on this progression even further and reserve some grants for secondary schools to ensure they take part.�
CAMHS is also running a creative work competition and a whole school competition around the motto �Feel it. Say it�. The winners will be notified in September.

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Background: A fifth of all children suffer from mental ill-health at some time

Boys more affected than girls, but girls more prone to self-harm

A new study by the British Medical Association (BMA) reveals a huge and rising problem of mental ill-health among our young people. The evidence, says the BMA, is �that the prevalence of childhood mental health problems is gradually increasing. Studies suggest that 20 per cent of children and adolescents have mental health problems at some point, and one in ten have a clinically recognisable mental health disorder.
�A prevalence of 10 per cent of one to 15 year olds would suggest that approximately 1.1 million children under the age of 18 would benefit from specialist services. Up to 45,000 young people suffer from a severe mental health disorder at any one time.�
The BMA cites a study among those aged five to 16 years by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) which found that 11 per cent of boys and eight per cent of girls had a mental health disorder.
But when it comes to self-harm the proportions are more than reversed: 'A survey of school children in England in 2002 found that 6.9 per cent of young people had committed an act of self-harm, and it was more common in girls (11.2 %) than boys (3.2 %). The average age of onset of self-harm is 12 years.'

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