Children and Young People's Mental Health
1 in 5 children in the UK have a diagnosed mental health illness, with many more struggling with un-diagnosed issues
Childhood should be a carefree, fun time, but sometimes children and young people face emotional and even traumatic experiences that may be related to school and educational situations.
Being expected to deal with problems and challenges life presents can become quite overwhelming for some, leading to anxiety, stress and even depression. We can’t control life’s situations, but being able to thrive despite these challenges comes from having strong skills of resilience.
What is the ROAR Response Programme?
The ROAR Response to Mental Health in Primary Schools was the first in the series of ROAR programmes. The programme was initially developed in response to a whole-school approach to a mental health report. The report highlighted that school staff needed more support when working with children and young people struggling with their mental health. How do they, as professionals, upskill and expand their knowledge to understand how to respond to this on a practical level, using evidence-based resources.
From the success of ROAR Primary, the ROAR family has grown. We now have a ROAR offer aimed at different settings and each with a different focus – these are all listed below under our ROAR Family.
The ethos of ROAR is underpinned within each course. This is focused on equipping staff to identify the main signs and symptoms of a child, young person, or staff member experiencing mental distress (depending on the ROAR course they attend), and to understand what they can do in school to support them.
As well as a range of printed materials through the ROAR manual, anyone completing the programme will have access to our online ROAR resources portal. Here they can access the practical and useful tools when working with children, young people, or staff, along with other self-care strategies.
Introducing The ROAR Family
There is now a range of ROAR programmes
Each programme has been developed to enable professionals to support the different needs of children and young people. There’s also a programme designed to support the emotional health and wellbeing of staff working with children and young people.