Universal Lessons for Adolescents

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i'm sure any teachers listening have had to support and address the mental health of their students in the class room. Teachers are trying to navigate a messy landscape with a lot of conflicting information about what they're supposed to do. i was particularly interested in what was called universal lessons. The idea is that if you teach it to everyone, you can potentially teach them coping skills before they even become unwell. But there's actually really interesting emerging evidence that having these lessons actually increases symptoms of mental health problems.

Many teenagers will receive their GCSE results today. These exams can have a significant impact on what they do next, so it can be a stressful time for students, their teachers and parents. Over the past decade, reported mental health problems among teenagers have been on the rise. A recent survey by the NHS statistics agency found rates of probable mental disorders in six- to 16-year-olds reached one in six in 2021. Madeleine Finlay speaks to the academic psychologist Dr Lucy Foulkes about what could be behind this crisis, how schools are trying to tackle it, and how we can help teenagers with their mental wellbeing. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod