St Dunstan's College hosts second Youth Mental Health Summit

St Dunstan’s College hosted its second Youth Mental Health Summit on Friday 7 October, welcoming delegates and speakers from across the country

St Dunstan’s College held its second Youth Mental Health Summit on Friday 7 October, hosting proceedings in its theatre. The event was attended by pupils from across the country, including London, Kent and the West Midlands.

At this year’s summit, writer and broadcaster, Sam Delaney led the keynote talk: ‘How to talk about mental health’. Known for his writing on mental health in both The Guardian and Daily Telegraph, Sam Delaney also has a popular podcast, Reset. He spoke to students about his own experiences and how little moments of trauma can have long and lasting effects on mental health. St Dunstan’s Deputy Head Pastoral, Jade McLellan, also led a talk on ‘Child and adolescent brain development’, while behaviour consultant Kat Stern spoke to delegates about feelings around stress. 

Following the keynote talks, students took part in a carousel of workshops. This included ‘The Mental Health Continuum’, hosted by David Whiting from Mental Health First Aid; Understanding through processes’, led by St Dunstan’s counsellors Julia Gray and Canon Boswell; and ‘The Infinite Game’, led by Tom Telford, Head of Adventurous Activities at the College. The Summit, which was kindly supported by Finalsite, was organised by Deputy Head Pastoral, Jade McLellan and the College’s Head of Communications, Jordon-Lee Squibb.  

“We were delighted to mark the return of St Dunstan’s annual Youth Mental Health Summit. This year’s event saw students from both state and independent schools working together to generate a vision for promoting wellbeing and raising mental health awareness amongst young people. This year the summit included a new line up of speakers, seminars and workshops to inspire students: a much-needed resource at a time when young people’s mental health continues to be under assault due the impact of global pressures and the shortfall in adolescent mental health support”, says Jade McLellan 

St Dunstan’s, which held its first Youth Mental Health Summit in 2021 following the Covid-19 pandemic, was recently named Independent Senior School of the Year at the Tes Awards 2022.

St Dunstan’s College stdunstans.org.uk

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