Let's Be Real - Mental Health for Young Minds
The Blog
Writing on mental health literacy, first aid, staff wellbeing and the culture that holds a school community together.
Neurodivergence and Mental Health: What Schools Miss
Neurodivergent students often experience distress in ways standard wellbeing guidance was never written for. This article looks at how anxiety and burnout show up differently, why the usual supportive conversation can misfire, and what schools can change so a shared mental health language includes every mind.
Read more: Neurodivergence and Mental Health: What Schools Miss
Why Mental Health Literacy Matters in International Schools
Mobility, multilingual communities and staff turnover make shared understanding harder to sustain in international schools. This article explains what mental health literacy is, why it matters here in particular, and how schools can build a common language across students, staff and families.
Read more: Why Mental Health Literacy Matters in International Schools
The Missing Link in Student Wellbeing: Connecting Schools and Families
Schools and families both work hard on student wellbeing, usually in parallel rather than together. This article looks at the gap young people fall into when home and school describe difficulty differently, and the practical steps that close it.
Read more: The Missing Link in Student Wellbeing: Connecting Schools and Families
From Awareness to Action: Why Schools Need Mental Health Response Training
Awareness was the achievement of the last decade. The question now is what a teacher does in the next five minutes after noticing that something is wrong. This article sets out what response training adds and how to make it stick.
Read more: From Awareness to Action: Why Schools Need Mental Health Response Training
How Parents Can Notice Early Signs of Mental Health Struggles in Teenagers
Adolescence involves a lot of ordinary change, which makes early signs hard to read. A practical guide for parents on the patterns worth noticing, how to open a conversation, and what to do if something serious is said.
Read more: How Parents Can Notice Early Signs of Mental Health Struggles in Teenagers
Mental Health First Aid vs Mental Health Literacy: What Schools Actually Need
The two terms are often used interchangeably, but they answer different questions. This article compares response training and community-wide literacy, and helps schools decide which to start with.
Read more: Mental Health First Aid vs Mental Health Literacy: What Schools Actually Need
Why most school wellbeing strategies do not change behaviour (and what can be done about it)
Why do so many international school wellbeing strategies fail to change what actually happens day to day? This article explores the gap between good intentions and lived behaviour, and explains what schools can do to design wellbeing systems that support staff and students in moments of uncertainty.
Read more: Why most school wellbeing strategies do not change behaviour (and what can be done about it)
Let's Be Real Joins ECIS to Support Mental Health and Wellbeing in International Schools
Let's Be Real is proud to join the European Council of International Schools (ECIS) as a commercial member; strengthening our commitment to supporting student mental health and wellbeing across Europe.
Read more: Let's Be Real Joins ECIS to Support Mental Health and Wellbeing in International Schools
Practical Self Care In School (Without the Guilt)
Educators give so much of themselves to pupils that their own wellbeing often slips down the list. This article shows how Mental Health First Aid principles can help teachers embed simple, guilt-free self care practices into the school day.
Read more: Practical Self Care In School (Without the Guilt)Published in ECIS Insights
Our articles in the ECIS Insights Magazine
Jacqueline Klemke and Nick Praulins wrote a two-part series for the Educational Collaborative for International Schools on the language gap behind school mental health work.
ECIS Insights · Part 1 ·
The Language Gap: Why Your School's Mental Health Investments Aren't Working
Four voices from the same school community, each isolated by the absence of a shared language - and why well-funded wellbeing work still fails to land.
Read on ecis.org: The Language Gap: Why Your School's Mental Health Investments Aren't WorkingECIS Insights · Part 2 ·
Building Shared Mental Health Literacy in Schools
What it takes to build one language for mental health across staff, students and parents, and how schools make it stick.
Read on ecis.org: Building Shared Mental Health Literacy in Schools
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Recommended next step
Mental health training for schools
Our articles are written from the training room, so the natural next step is seeing how a whole-school programme is built.
Whole-school programmes for staff, students and families, in English and German.
Book a school discovery callFrom reading to training
Turn this into something your community can practise
These guides are the thinking behind our programmes. When you are ready to put it into practice, here is where it becomes live training.
- Mental health training for schoolsWhole-school programmes for staff, students and families, in English and German.See the programme
- Youth Mental Health ResponseMHFA-informed response training: staff learn to NOTICE, HOLD and LEAD.See the programme
- NOTICE parent workshopA 4-hour parent workshop delivered as two 2-hour live sessions.See the programme