I've left school for a good 5 years nearly, now... and what surprises me is the lack of moving forward, particularly in PSHE - Which I learnt stands for Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education... Which means, they teach things that at some point will benefit their Students.
Now don't get me wrong, I personally can't remember anything except how to put a Condom on a Banana from PSHE. I can't remember much of what was taught. I do, however, know that for a few weeks we had nothing, and therefore my Form Tutor would put music on or popular youtube videos on for us to watch and enjoy. Not a problem - Sure.
But I have one big question about this, why isn't Mental Health on there? We learn growing up not to mock or bully someone with a disability, so if we see someone in a Wheelchair or other visible disabilities, we know not to judge - But what about invisible illnesses? That schools and students normally pass off as 'hormones' or 'attention seeking', when in fact, it's something a lot more serious and on the rise.
Do I think that the world is getting more depressed? Hell no. Yes, the number of diagnosed Mental Health conditions is the highest it's ever been, and the amount of people in therapies and on Medication as at an all time high - But this is not because the world is more depressed, this is because, finally, people are more aware, and people are becoming less ashamed; which is amazing. It's amazing to finally live in a world where I can be like 'Yo, yeah, I got Anxiety and Depression but I'll give it a shot. But be aware... I don't feel comfortable' rather than being like 'I don't want to do it... I've got XYZ planned (Though I had nothing because I had no other way explaining how I felt)'.
In school, because of the lack of support and the lack of understanding, I used to think that to have depression, must mean you're a depressing person. You can't be happy. You want to die or you hurt yourself - But in reality, I had depression, and I came across bubbly, crazy even. Yes there were times I wished I were never born - unsurprising really. But I never really hurt myself. I couldn't be depressed? Yeah, I thought I couldn't be depressed.
School now teaches probably more than it used to. You learn all about the Romans and the Royals, and the wars in History, you learn about Rocks, Maps, the earth as a whole in Geography, you learn about Plants, Planets, and the Periodic Table in Science, you learn about freaking Macbeth in English as well as Romeo and Juliet (Though I think they've slightly changed it), and Numbers and equations and algebra in Maths. You get where I'm going... But where are the fundamental things? The things that will probably help reduce bullying, raise awareness, teach staff, teach students, about their Mind. They don't have to be perfect all the time, and it's completely OK not to be OK. If I knew about Mental Health in High School as I do now, I could have reached out for proper, professional help years ago and not denied myself of love and support. I needed that. I needed that and I hid it away.
There are so many opportunities in PSHE to teach this. They've not ran out of things to teach - and it's something that can be quite enjoyable. Teaching about mental health doesn't have to be boring. Make it interactive - Maybe get the class to Draw what they think someone with depression looks like, and then show them what it actually looks like (A normal everyday human being going out smiling, yeah), maybe even show them celebrities that have it. Get them to learn about de-stress techniques, you're teaching kids that are setting their exams! Teach them how to cope with stress - because trust me, a lot of them need it. Get stress balls, teach them the power of meditation, get them to watch videos. Have a de-stress session. It's half hour out of their day, but a great way to start their day... what would be wrong with it?
Early Intervention is Key. 1 in 3 people will Struggle with their mental health at some point in their life. Let's narrow that down -
Say you have a class of 24 people, about 8 of those will at some point suffer from Mental Health. This doesn't have to be Depression Or Anxiety, there's so many out there to talk about such as:
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Bipolar
- Schizophrenia
- PTSD
- Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder
- Psychosis
- Eating Disorders (Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge Eating Disorder)
- OCD
The list is endless. If we start teaching students about these - This will help not only teach them healthier coping mechanisms, but also possibly prevent them developing more, long term Mental Health Conditions. It may even get more Students to speak out. In hindsight, there is nothing damaging that can come of having Mental Health in PSHE curriculum, and that's why I think it's so important that schools finally do this.
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