Advanced School Mental Health Lead

Course introduction

What we will cover throughout the day

• Strengthen mental health leadership: Explore Department for Education guidance and embed mental health and wellbeing into whole-school improvement priorities.

• Understand complex mental health needs: Develop a deeper understanding of emotional intelligence, stress, the nervous system and emotional regulation to better support pupils and staff.

• Explore therapeutic approaches: Understand the principles and appropriate educational applications of CBT, Third Wave therapies and nervous-system-informed approaches, including their limitations and referral pathways.

• Build inclusive mental health provision: Identify barriers to support, strengthen early intervention and improve access to appropriate mental health services for all pupils.

• Turn knowledge into action: Explore the impact of parental mental health, strengthen family engagement and evaluate current provision to develop clear, practical priorities for improvement.

Target audience

Aimed at anyone who is interested in developing their skills further as a mental health lead.

If you have attended the mental health first aid, the role of the mental health lead course or similar courses this is a potential next step in your training. Senior Mental Health Leads, Pastoral Leaders, SENDCOs/ALNCos, Designated Safeguarding Leads, Senior Leaders and experienced staff responsible for mental health and wellbeing.

Trainers for this course

Karen Ferguson

BSc (Hons), QTS, MEd, MA

Karen is currently working part-time in a mainstream Primary School as SENDCO, while the remaining part of her week is spent supporting and training. Karen started teaching science at a... mainstream secondary school in 2000 but moved into the SEND environment, working with children and parents to help them overcome their barriers to education to give them the skills to achieve their full potential. The majority of her training was on the job, which showed the need for training in this area. She was appointed as a Specialist Leader in Education for Autism, and this allowed her to disseminate good practice and deliver training in the field of SEND. Karen offers various SEND, Neurodivergent and condition specific training, including Autism, ADHD and Dyslexia. She has continued her professional development throughout the years, including a Master in Arts, Master in Education, Dyslexia, ADHD, Autism and PDA formal qualifications. She is currently working towards her NPQSEN. Karen believes that a better understanding of SEND, Neurodivergence and complex needs can be achieved through information sharing, and she is committed to ensuring that education is developed and delivered to as many people as possible.Read more

See what others have to say about us

Trainer led today’s advanced mental health training and was so knowledgable. The structure of the training was great, not death by PowerPoint. It was great to have discussions with other staff on the course and I enjoyed the tasks given. It was very helpful to look at emotional intelligence, inclusivity and diversity in relation to mental health. Lots of good resources shared and very interactive. Thank you so much NSMTC!”

“This is the second NSMTC course I have attended and I have been very impressed by both. The consultants are very knowledge and carefully balance the sharing of information with time to talk to others attending the course, which is of course an extremely important part of attending training. Today’s course has been extremely valuable for me as a HT. I have already attended the Senior Mental Lead training via another provider over two days, but have learned so much more from this course and it was great to discuss good practice with the other professionals attending. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye open for further future courses with NSMTC!”

“Training today has been amazing. Valuable conversations, resource sharing and knowledge shared that is focused on the enablement of the children and your people and support for staff. Being able to explore all the different varied effects on mental health and impact from schools and organisations. The support has been outstanding in enabling conversations and thought process to broaden our process and ideas.”

About the venue

Stay at home, get comfortable and enjoy our live interactive course via Zoom! You’ll receive the link a few days before the course date so you can get prepared (and excited) ahead of time.

Handy course logistics

• The course will run via Zoom from 9:30 am – 3:00 pm, however, the trainer will be available 15 minutes before and after the course times to answer any questions.
• You’ll receive mid-morning and lunch breaks to re-energise.
• This course is designed to be interactive and inclusive. We welcome questions and discussions throughout and we want you to be comfortable and stress-free no matter where you join us from!
• Your course handouts will be emailed to you on the morning of the course.
• Additional links and information will be emailed to you before and during the course.
• This course is also available as an in-house / INSET training session at your school. Contact us for details.
• Please Note – the cost is per person
• Please note – the early bird rate of £185+ VAT ends 28 days prior to the course date, after this the standard rate of £215+VAT will be charged.