Students sign up for mental health sessions
Charity’s drop-in group is proving popular
Armadale Academy has launched new mental health drop-in sessions for students at the school as part of their ongoing partnership with charity HeadStrong.
Students concerned about their mental health, or even students who just have questions surrounding mental health, will be able to ‘dropin’ to see an accredited mental health coach over lunch break on a Wednesday and Thursday.
HeadStrong counsellor, Cheryl Gilligan, also runs group sessions, where students can learn more about the mechanics of the mind and mental health coping strategies.
Armadale Academy began working with the counselling service just before the first lockdown in 2020, and saw remote sessions from the team at HeadStrong go down incredibly well with students, parents, and staff at the school.
During lockdown HeadStrong launched ‘family learning events’ in which students and parents learned ways they could better support each other while living under the restrictions and manage anxiety around Covid-19.
As well as drop-in and group sessions, the counsellor also does one-to-one counselling sessions with students who are struggling with their mental health.
Students can request one-toone sessions with the coach, or be referred to one-to-one sessions from student support if a pupil seems to be struggling with their mental health.
Feedback from students at Armadale has been universally positive, with pupils reporting feeling more comfortable in social situations, less anxious, and having a better understanding of what’s going
on in their heads. Barry Speedie, the depute head for student support at Armadale Academy, spoke about the campaign at the school.
He said: “We recognised that our students are facing all kinds of pressure on their mental health from issues like anxiety, exam stress, and gender identity.
“Previously students found it difficult to go in and do normal talking counselling/therapy sessions.
“I think it was difficult for them to speak to strangers about their mental health.
“But so far we’ve had a very, very positive response from pupils who have engaged with HeadStrong’s coach.
“Cheryl has a background as an art teacher, so she’s very creative which I think helps with engagement.
“Now the only problem we have is too much engagement, which created a bit of a waiting list for the service.
“To combat that we started the drop-in sessions, which are doing
great so far.” HeadStrong is a counselling service founded in 2007 that supports private clients in oneto-one sessions and corporations in mental health support for staff.
The community interest company began its work in schools in 2009, working mostly throughout west and central Scotland.
Armadale Academy is the first high school in West Lothian to receive support from HeadStrong.
Other local schools to receive support from the charity are Bo’ness Academy, Deans Primary School, and Grangemouth High School.
Brian Costello, managing director of HeadStrong, spoke about the company’s work in schools.
He said: “Our mission statement at HeadStrong is to have positive conversations about mental health.
“It’s important for young people to know how their mind works, that they’re not broken and they don’t need to be scared of their own mental health.
“We’re trying to get the help to
young people who don’t believe they can get it, putting information and tools in the hands of students to understand and work on their mental health.
“One of the biggest anxieties young people have – mixed with fitting in, gender identity, and fear of judgement – is anxiety itself.
“They then get anxious about feeling anxious, and it works the mind into a loop like a Catherine Wheel – by giving students strategies and tools, we’re helping them break that cycle.
“Armadale Academy has really stepped up more than any other school has done before.
“We’ve done bigger projects on a local authority level, but never to this scale from a school.
“It shows that they’re incredibly invested in their students’ mental health, which has paid massive dividends for the general wellbeing of the school – which deserves praise and recognition.”