Mental health education as a mandatory subject in all UK schools

[user1490020754]

Following on from the Mumsnet survey about making PSHE lessons compulsory in all schools - I personally think that mental health education should be taken out of PSHE and made a mandatory subject (like sex education has, recently).

There is a government petition calling for this here petition.parliament.uk/petitions/176555 but I would also welcome the thoughts of other parents.

Consider, in the UK

1. 850,000 kids aged 5-16 have a mental health disorder
   
2. This equates to around 3 kids in every classroom
   
3. 1 in 5 children will experience a mental health difficulty before the age of 11
   
4. A third of children/teenagers with mental health issues failed to access specialist care and had to wait on average 66 days for an initial assessment

[OdinsLoveChild]

I thought it was already covered in schools. It certainly is here and has been for a considerable number of years. All my children had modules/study on mental health awareness at high school. My eldest had it 15 years ago so its not a new thing.

My youngest high school age child has just had an entire term on it and spends her days diagnosing her friends. I'm slightly concerned about this to be honest. According to her the entire year has a mental illness of some description. From this perspective its not a good idea to provide in depth study of mental health education unless its an area they would consider working in.

I wouldn't like to see any more than what they currently get. It can be very troubling to have teachers with only a few hours training in the subject then trying to explain the complexities of mental illness to teenagers.