SSUNI and NIYF Host Event at Belfast City Hall Calling for the Creation of a Mental Health Curriculum
SSUNI and the NIYF’s ‘Elephant Coming Out of the Dark’ Mental Health Working Group hosted an event on Friday 1st December at Belfast City Hall focused on their proposals for the creation of a new curriculum focused on mental health and well-being. It was attended by key educational stakeholders such as CCEA, the Education Authority and the Department of Education in addition to politicians from the DUP, SDLP, Sinn Féin and Alliance.
The event began with the results of surveys carried out by the organisations in recent years to highlight the ongoing impact of mental health on young people in Northern Ireland, with key statistics such as “89% of young people believing that mental health-related education should be added to the curriculum”. Statistics such as these from SSUNI’s ‘Mental Health Matters’ Report and the joint survey with the NIYF show the need for drastic changes to mental health and well-being education.
The organisations believe these statistics demonstrate that it is long past time that we treat mental health and well-being as a proper, taught area of education. Similarly to how we look after physical health in PE, we should look after mental health in a dedicated subject and area of the curriculum. The organisations identified 5 key asks to fully implement a mental health and well-being curriculum.
To establish a youth-led and adult-supported cross-departmental working group to co-create a curriculum for mental health and well-being.
To complete the co-created mental health curriculum by 2028 for all schools (primary, post-primary and special educational needs).
To introduce a mental health and well-being qualification by 2029 by working with teacher educational providers,
To introduce a mental health module in all teaching qualifications so teachers have a baseline level of knowledge. / To introduce upskilling for all qualified and active education providers so they have a basic level of knowledge.
To have a fully implemented mental health curriculum by 2033 across all educational settings.
The event then featured a series of workshops to inform questions for panel discussion. The first panel featured 2 young people, Genevieve McCollum from the NIYF and Oliver Mercer from the SSUNI, in addition to key stakeholders in education: Claire McClelland (Department of Education), Corinne Latham (CCEA), Liam McGuckin (President of National Association of Head Teachers NI) and Karen Collins (Director of AWARE NI).
SSUNI’s Community Relations Officer Oliver Mercer commented, “It was particularly refreshing to hear from the education panel. It was a privilege to be able to engage fully in these discussions and to get into the details of how we are going to actualise the change that SSUNI and NIYF believe is necessary. I left the discussion filled with renewed confidence that an educational curriculum on mental health is not only universally sought after, but achievable.”
The second panel featured politicians from a range of political parties, including Colin McGrath MLA (SDLP), Nick Mathison MLA (AP), Deborah Erskine MLA (DUP) and Órlaithí Flynn MLA (SF). All of these party spokespeople backed the calls for curriculum reform by SSUNI and NIYF. Genevieve McCollum, a member of ‘Elephant Coming Out of the Dark’ and NIYF’s Executive (SSUNI Equality Officer too!), commented, “It was greatly encouraging to see enthusiastic cross-party support, which must lead to financial and political backing behind our key asks. It is imperative that this support is maintained so that we can deliver our key asks and improve the dire mental health situation in NI.”
The event entered its final stage with a keynote address by Chris Quinn, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, who gave his full backing to the proposed curriculum and encouraged other attendees to do the same. SSUNI’s Secretary Ryan Kearney closed the event with a final call for our key asks to be implemented.
