It is evident that the Mentally Healthy Schools pilot, the resources, training and workshops and general communication and support from the partners was highly valued by teachers, schools and young people despite the limitations of the timescales and rapid delivery.

Schools are places of education and have limited capacity or resources to deal with the evident decline in pupil wellbeing and mental health, therefore they value the additional support and access to expertise and programmes. This approach gives school leaders time to think, to understand and to take action with the added value of inspirational training and innovative approaches to engaging young people.

It also places a huge value on mobilising young people as mentors, activists and influencers. It places the voice of young people at the heart of what schools provide to improve the physical and emotional wellbeing of young people and allows them to create a positive ethos of wellbeing across the whole school.

It is evident that this type of partnership approach to addressing the physical and emotional wellbeing of young people is an effective mechanism for longer term change. This approach also addresses mental health issues arising from low level stress and anxiety which can, undetected, manifest themselves as mental health issues in
later life. 

There is much to be learnt from the Mentally Healthy Schools rapid pilot that provides a holistic approach to many of the challenges laid out in the Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Green Paper. Whilst the objectives of the Green Paper will help to address the shortfall in services and getting the right support to the
right young people, the pilot has demonstrated that a more sustainable and transformative approach can improve outcomes from young people in the longer term.