Naughty or needy – do schools exclude pupils that actually need more help?

by John Nichols | Feb 17, 2015 | Wellbeing

Exclusion, whether fixed-term or permanent, is a school’s final resort for dealing with a pupil whose behaviour does not improve as a result of other punishments. These are the naughtiest of pupils, the most disruptive or rebellious young people who refuse to conform...

Mental health services need to adapt to ensure that those with mental health problems get continuous support for as long as they need.

by John Nichols | Feb 11, 2015 | Mental Health, Prevention

If a child is diagnosed with diabetes, they get continuous and ongoing support from the NHS right through from diagnosis into adulthood and beyond. This is how healthcare should be. There should be prevention and screening (where appropriate) and where problems are...

Young people understand how to address mental health issues – we should listen to them.

by John Nichols | Feb 10, 2015 | Mental Health, Prevention

Members of Youth Parliament for Plymouth are understandably a little shocked that the society in which they have been growing up seems happy to routinely ignore mental health issues for the most part to the extent that 204 young people with mental health problems were...

Stop arguing about the number of beds and focus on the real long term solution to the mental health crisis.

by John Nichols | Feb 9, 2015 | Mental Health, Prevention

A preliminary political skirmish has been taking place with both government and opposition manoeuvring for electoral credibility in advance of the election campaign. The battleground has been the important issue of child and adolescent mental health. However, both...

Mental health and wellbeing is important to all of us and we need to start preventing it.

by John Nichols | Feb 4, 2015 | Mental Health, Prevention, Wellbeing

Last week there was an important event which represents a gradually shifting attitude towards mental health issues. On the 29th of January, in the British Library in London, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network: Mental Health and...