In January 2018 my world fell apart when my younger brother, Sam, took his own life at 15 years old, just months before his GCSEs. Since Sam's death, over 1,000 children have died from suicide in the UK. The pain of losing a brother like this is indescribable. No family should ever endure this kind of heartbreak.

I began to speak to Sam's teachers shortly after he died and was surprised to hear that teachers don’t receive any education on mental health. This is despite research published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine by a group of education and health experts which shows that children are more likely to reach out to a teacher for help with their mental health than to any other person, including friends or family. The research also notes that the National Scoping Survey found that mental health training for staff was uncommon, with most schools providing it ‘not at all’ or ‘a little.’

Teachers are already recognised as being part of 'tier 1' of CAMHS, the children's mental health service. This means they are already required to safeguard children from harm, which includes mental health concerns. This is despite the vast, vast majority of teachers having never received any education on child development or mental health.

Providing teachers with training and education on mental health and child development doesn't create any new roles or responsibilities for teachers, and it doesn't create an expectation for them to become therapists. What it does do is provide teachers with the tools to help teach, intervene and signpost children with mental health concerns.

This training would complement the new government's existing and ambitious plans to improve children’s mental health, such as placing mental health professionals in every primary and secondary school. Creating a network in schools that works to keep children safe and increase the efficiency and accessibility of support.

The Carter Review of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) 2015, made comprehensive recommendations on improving ITT. As well as many other relevant recommendations, one of those recommendations was that "ITT should equip new teachers to identify what is within the norms of child adolescent behaviours and what is a cause for concern. ITT should prepare trainees to know when and how to refer appropriately to more specialist support."

Many of the recommendations of this review have so far not been implemented.

It is my strong belief that national, standardised, evidence-based, and lived-experience-informed mental health training for every teacher in the country would help us support children like Sam, as part of the national strategy to improve children’s mental health.

Research also shows us that mental health education improves the well-being of those receiving the training. This is an important step towards improving teacher wellbeing as well.

This petition outlines an important and overlooked step that is vital in creating healthy schools and healthy children.

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