• At the beginning of February stem4 held a student conference on teenage mental health in association with Wimbledon College as part of their ‘Changing Minds’ initiative focussing on developing awareness of mental health. stem4 student conferences are about bringing together a range of young people to provide an opportunity to express, in their own words, a message to their peers about the importance of looking after their mental health and to understand what early steps they can take to stop the growth of mental illness right from the start. Year 10 representatives attended from six local schools for the half-day conference.
  • After an icebreaker activity to get to know everyone, Dr Nihara Krause spoke on why good mental health is important, describing aspects of wellbeing we should focus on and giving a background to common mental health problems.  Students then heard the personal experiences of some of stem4’s ambassadors: Iain and Michael Maitland, Rosie Day and Naomi Cavaday, and had plenty of opportunity to ask them questions.
  • The conferences are designed to be interactive, and students worked in groups to create statements about the importance of communication, early identification and early action for change. The prize-winning statement was: ‘Early identification, Is your medication, Hear not listen, That’s your mission, If you talk to a friend, It’ll help your mind mend’. Students also discussed what they thought an essential school ‘mental health toolkit’ might look like – they had some fantastic ideas including having a school counsellor, a confidential email service, and even a school pet tortoise!
  • Dr Krause summarised the event by asking students to take the key message about the importance of looking after mental health back to each of their schools and to deliver it in the form of an assembly.
  • If your school would be interested in hosting a student conference on teenage mental health then please contact natasha@stem4.org.uk.