Best practice review of whole school approach (WSA) in the South-East of England. NIHR applied research collaboration Kent, Surrey and Sussex

This report documents a review and evaluation of best practice on work undertaken by Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to support whole school approaches (WSA) to emotional wellbeing and mental health (EWMH). The review and evaluation took place between November 2020 and October 2021 and was led by the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) in partnership with the Applied Research Collaboration for Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Academics from the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex undertook the field work and analysis. Charlie Waller Trust led pupil voice input to the review. Funding was received from local areas across the South-East and East of England.

The review was commissioned in part due to concerns about a gap in current national monitoring and evaluation measures for MHSTs, which are weighted towards clinical outcomes. The review aims to provide clear data on the ways in which local teams are developing the WSA element of MHSTs and what impact this might be having.

The best practice review and evaluation undertook the following steps:

• A review and summary of the literature associated with WSA to EWMH;

• A process for mapping the ways in which WSA is being developed and rolled out as part of MHSTs across the South-East and East of England;

• Pupil voice work to gather pupil views on how an effective WSA may impact on their practical help seeking, their development of healthy coping, and their sense of a school ethos around mental health;

• An analysis of the measures currently in use to measure impact of WSA work with MHSTs;

• An analysis of the nature and impact of WSA work delivered as part of MHSTs. The review sets out a number of ambitions for future implementation, development and monitoring of WSA work within MHSTs