Depression

Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of students at school and college

At stem4, we partner with schools to provide practical, evidence-based mental health support for students, teachers, and families. Our resources are designed to help young people build resilience through learning to manage anxiety, low mood, stress, and other mental health challenges, while equipping staff, parents and carers with practical information and easy-to-use tools that fit seamlessly into both the school day and home life.

For schools

Teachers are well placed to notice the changes caused by depression which will be picked up through their understanding of student’s responses.

Teachers, depending on their relationship with the student, are also more likely to be a probable first port of call either by the student concerned or, more often, by their friends.

Four facts in four areas

BEHAVIOUR

Changes in school performance, for example, dropping grades, slow, difficulty sticking to deadlines
Increased absences from school, may find coming into school in the morning difficult
Lack of engagement
May become more challenging behaviourally – irritability, anger, truanting, self-harm, risk behaviour

PHYSICAL FACTORS

Changes in weight and appetite
May avoid physical activity
Appears tired and without energy
May present with a lot more physical illness, aches and pains, absences from school due to illness

PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGES

Looks sad and withdrawn
Less able to concentrate and memory changes
Easily irritable and angry
More easily tearful

SOCIAL FACTORS

Friends may present with concerns
Withdrawal from social groups, not joining in social activities
Forming new and transient friendships
Not contributing to group work or in class

Four steps to change

Support the child or young person through the following steps:

ACKNOWLEDGE

Acknowledge that there is a problem and that it’s something that will benefit from early change. This may mean engaging the family and/or the GP in the treatment plan

BREAK THE CYCLE!

Encourage self-care – sensible sleep times, eating regularly, activity
Suggest they learn breathing techniques and it might help them to get them to keep a diary of negative or self-defeating thoughts
Encourage keeping regular contact with friends. Contact parents/make a referral as necessary

MAINTAIN IT

Encourage them to keep up self-care and to note changes
Encourage them to keep talking – to friends, to someone who can help – you may need to make a referral or meet up regularly yourself

GET BACK ON TRACK AFTER A RELAPSE

Depression takes time to change but responds very well to psychological treatment. Encourage that they keep putting into practice the changes that they have been asked to implement and keep a copy of these changes so that you can monitor. Make sure relapse is monitored and dealt with as soon as possible

What can schools do?

Four suggestions for change

Include talks on depression within the PSHE curriculum and offer teacher training and support
Have a clear and effective system to support a student who presents with a mood disorder
Allocate a named teacher and peer supporter from a core team of trained staff to be available should help be needed. Children and young people who are depressed need to be assessed for risk so having a professional they can consult in case of concern is important
Establish links with local services and know what the referral pathways are. Get a professional to help assess and make recommendations

Visit our Further Advice page for details of other organisations that can help.