For Professionals
Download a poster for your workplace here!
Our new eye-catching poster for your school, library, nursery or waiting room
If you’d like to receive some free copies in the post, contact us on happymapsuk@gmail.com with your details and postal address.
If you need information or advice on a specific topic, go to the age-group tab
We have pages on everything from behavioural problems in young children to internet safety and self-harm. There are also pages for parents and carers on specialist referral and what to expect, finding counselling, children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and much more.
Teaching and learning resources on mental health
For Health Professionals
- The Royal College of Psychiatry has leaflets and resources for parents, professionals and young people – topics as varied as coping with tantrums to self-harm, club drugs and much more. Great for signposting families to and for professionals
- Anna Freud Centre: courses and conferences on child mental health from this respected charity
- Talking to young patients about mental health. A short downloadable booklet created with young people by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health highlights the importance of not using medical jargon, thinking about offering written information and offering follow-up and continuity- all things that young people have highlighted as sometimes being forgotten.
- E-learning on adolescent depression (University of Bath) Free e-learning resource created by a clinical psychologist.
- RCGP mental health toolkit includes resources for GPs on youth mental health
- YoungMinds runs training courses on mental health for professionals and if you are a school you can sign up for their 360 community and be sent free resources online.
- Childhood trauma Beacon House have free training resources for people working with children who have suffered significant childhood trauma.
For Teachers and Schools
- Mentally Healthy Schools Lots of ideas for assemblies, lesson plans, and downloadable resources for teachers plus advice on how to begin talking to a child, parent or carer about mental health.
- Twinkl has hundreds of downloadable resources for different ages on key stage subjects but also topics like self-esteem.
- Five Ways to Wellbeing Download Posters here -each poster explains more about each of the five ways of well-being and gives some ideas. Ideal for schools and colleges.
- Wellbeing action plan for teachers and parents key stage 2-4 (downloadable resource).
- Anna Freud Centre Resources for schools including those above and more.
- “Inside I’m Hurting” Book by L.Bomber- Working with children who have experienced trauma
- Well At School– information and advice on medical and mental health conditions for teachers. There’s also a section for parents and one on ‘what young people would like you to know. Information on ADHD, Chronic Fatigue, Self-harm and more.
- SEN resources for teachers – from TES. A huge selection of great classroom resources to support young people with SEN including ADHD and cognitive impairment.
- Social media and body image lesson pack
- Mental Health Quiz a short quiz to enlighten young people on the importance of mental health
- Make a self-soothe box with YoungMinds, available for primary and secondary-aged children
ADHD information and screening tools
There are various rating scales available online such as the Conner’s or SNAP-IV scales but these need to be used with a proper clinical assessment to be really useful as they can be misleading by themselves. Traumatic experiences or anxiety can sometimes cause very similar issues. Parent questionnaires exist in short forms and longer forms.
The short Conner’s 3 form is available here and the short SNAP-IV here . Longer forms are often sent to parents together with a teacher’s questionnaire once a child has been referred for assessment. In some children (often girls) there may not be obvious symptoms of being hyperactive but they do struggle to focus, get organised or complete tasks. The shorter forms might be useful for parents to complete and could be sent with a referral if appropriate. There is also a self- assessment questionnaire here for young adults, which again might give an indication but is not diagnostic. Any ADHD assessment by a psychiatrist or community paediatrician will include a detailed assessment of any co-existing mental health issues.
Autism information and screening tool
Autism screening tool (Modified checklist for autism in toddlers = M-CHAT) is designed for children between 16 and 30 months of age. This is a simple set of twenty questions which is not diagnostic but may help you decide whether a referral is appropriate. Parents and professionals can find an interactive version of the M-CHAT here
Autism spectrum disorders learning module from RCGP