Mental Health in Schools Working Group minutes: December 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) (Chair)
• Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS)
• Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP)
• Children in Scotland
• Connect
• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)
• Education Scotland
• Health and Wellbeing Unit, Scottish Government (Secretariat)
• Mental Health Directorate, Scottish Government
• Mental Health Foundation
• National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT)
• NHS Education for Scotland (NES)
• UNISON

Apologies

• School Leaders Scotland (SLS)

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

The Chair welcomed attendees and apologies were made.

The Chair also welcomed the Mental Health Foundation representative, attending to support discussions on the online professional learning resource.

Minutes from the previous meeting

Scottish Government (SG) provided an update on the actions from the previous meeting. It was noted that NHS Education for Scotland had been omitted from the attendee list.

Action: SG to amend minutes as suggested and publish on the SG website.

Professional learning resource

The Chair thanked members for reviewing the sections of the resource allocated to them. SG invited members to provide overarching reflections and highlight any proposed changes which may be contentious.

Members agreed that the resource remains relevant, high quality and well written. The following points were made:

• the use of the word ‘treatment’ in a school setting is less applicable and should be reviewed
• policies, strategies and references need to be updated
• additional worked examples at primary school level would strengthen the resource
• further guidance is needed to support teachers and other staff in facilitating group discussions
• the content should reflect current, more nuanced understanding of brain development, trauma, adversity and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) Language and terminology should be updated accordingly
• ensure the language is consistent with the national approach on relationships behaviour
• greater clarity is required in the approach to neurodiversity. It is important not to conflate neurodivergence with mental health difficulties, while recognising how environmental factors may contribute to risk
• equality considerations require strengthening, including clearer reference to protected characteristics and reasonable adjustments
• while the resource is a substantive learning offer, engagement is limited.  More thought is needed on how the resource can be strategically presented, introduced and delivered to staff to increase engagement
• it was suggested that the content could be sense-checked with children and young people to ensure it meets practitioners’ needs
• consideration should be given to how feedback from teachers could be incorporated

Action: SG agreed to work through all feedback and agree next steps with Digital Bricks.

Self-harm in education

COSLA provided an update on work relating to self-harm, highlighting key questions for the group. The following points were raised:

• feedback from this group was shared with the self-harm implementation group
• at the moment there is a two pronged approach with signposting to resources and training being key
• there are recognised complexities around curriculum inclusion. It was noted that enabling individuals to seek support through trusted adults may be more effective than formal curriculum delivery
• a range of training is available including ‘train the trainer’ models. Greater local embedding and accessibility are required
• the self-harm implementation group is exploring the evidence base and looking at whether targeted or universal approaches are more useful
• they are currently in the early stages of writing an evidence paper, bringing in academic evidence. It would be useful to find out what is happening in local areas and look at examples of good practice

Actions:

• COSLA will share self-harm training and resources with the group and members to share these with their networks
• group members to share any training they are aware of locally and examples of good practice

Any other business

The chair noted the next meeting of the group will take place on Thursday 12th March 15:00-16:00.

The chair thanked members for their contribution and closed the meeting.