Our awareness of the importance of mental health is growing larger and larger. So much so that schools in England are trialling out ‘mindfulness’ as a subject within the traditional curriculum.
What Is Mindfulness You Ask?
What Is The Trial?
The United Kingdom government announced that this trial is starting in up to 370 schools across England in order to improve youth mental health. Mental health experts will help teach relaxation techniques and breathing methods. The trial will aim to explore patterns of behaviour within school children. It will also note the importance of the role teachers make in determining these patterns of behaviour.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I want to see all children and young people have the opportunity to flourish – and protecting their mental health is vital to this. I’m incredibly excited by this initiative, which will help young people better understand their mental health and identify when they need to ask for help sooner”.
The initiative served as a response after a survey commissioned by the National Health Service. The survey found that an eighth of children in England between the ages of 5 and 19 suffered from at least one mental disorder in 2017. Disorders like anxiety and depression were the most common. These affect 1 in 12 people early adolescents and appearing more in females.
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Mental Health Shouldn’t Be A Taboo Subject
It is no lie that as a society, we are more open about mental health than ever before. There also isn’t any doubt that our youth in the modern world has at least, much different pressures in creating a life for themselves than older generations. Social media, with all its benefits of communication, enables everyone to compare themselves to each other. This can take an unbelievable toll on one’s self esteem. More importantly, if issues of mental health are tackled early in people’s lives, it lessens any sort of risk with debilitating mental health later in life.
This trial is one of the largest of its kind in the world. It is definitely taking a step in the right direction for what the world can do with mental health awareness.
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