Mental health – supporting everyone conference
🏷️ From £235
🎧 Heads, Deputy Heads, Heads of Boarding, Mental health Leads, Inclusion Leads, Nurses, Health Centre Leads, Boarding & pastoral staff
📍 Online (conference)
🎥 Watch live or on catch up
Course outline:
This one-day programme brings together leading practitioners to explore mental health and wellbeing across the whole school community. Join us to apply evidence-based strategies in your workplace and address key topics including adolescence, emotional regulation, school culture, life transitions and the role of wider influences including nutrition.
Throughout the day, expert speakers will share practical insights and actionable approaches designed to help schools create supportive, resilient environments where pupils, staff, and alumni can thrive.
Training topics will include:
- Adolescent brain development and its impact on behaviour, emotion, and decision-making
- Emotional regulation and whole-school approaches to wellbeing
- Creating supportive, psychologically safe school environments
- Practical strategies for identifying and supporting mental health needs
- The influence of lifestyle factors, including nutrition, on mental wellbeing
Learning outcomes:
- Develop a deeper understanding of adolescent development and mental health
- Gain practical strategies to support emotional regulation and positive behaviour
- Feel more confident in recognising and responding to mental health concerns
- Understand how to contribute to a whole-school culture of wellbeing
- Be equipped with realistic, evidence-based approaches that can be applied in everyday school life
Programme:
09:30 – 10:15
Session 1 – Building emotional regulation for whole school wellbeing
Chair: David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding & Education and Director, BSA/TIOB
Speaker: Alicia Drummond, Founder, The Wellbeing Hub
10:15 – 10:30
Break
10:30 – 11:30
Session 2 – Supporting boarding school alumni
Chair: David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding & Education and Director, BSA/TIOB
11:30 – 11:45
Break
11:45 – 12:30
Session 3 – Building a school mental health hub: practical steps and strategies
This session explores how schools can develop and sustain an effective mental health hub to support pupils and the wider school community. Schools that have successfully established mental health hubs will share their experiences, highlighting practical steps, challenges, and lessons learned along the way. Participants will gain insight into how a coordinated, whole-school approach can improve access to support, strengthen early intervention, and embed mental wellbeing into everyday school life.
Chair: David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding & Education and Director, BSA/TIOB
Joined by a panel of schools
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch
13:30 – 14:15
Session 4 – Creating a supportive environment for mental health
This session will explore what it means to create a genuinely supportive environment for mental health within a school setting. It will consider the role of school culture, relationships, and everyday practices in promoting wellbeing for pupils and staff. Drawing on practical examples and reflective discussion, the session will highlight how small, intentional changes can foster psychological safety, encourage help-seeking, and ensure mental health support is embedded across the whole school community.
Chair: Gaelle Sullivan, Director of Research, Inclusion and IELA
14:15 – 14:30
Break
14:30 – 15:15
Session 5 – Supporting young minds
Chair: David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding & Education and Director, BSA/TIOB
15:15 – 15:30
Break
15:30 – 16:30
Session 6 – Fuel for the mind: how nutrition shapes mental wellbeing
This session explores the connection between nutrition and mental wellbeing, examining how food choices can influence mood, cognition, stress levels, and energy availability. It will challenge common misconceptions around diet and mental health and offer practical, realistic strategies that can be easily applied in busy work and everyday life.
Chair: David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding & Education and Director, BSA/TIOB
Speaker: Dan Richardson, MSc, SENr, Performance Nutrition Expert
16:30
CONFERENCE CLOSE
Speakers:
David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding & Education and Director, BSA/TIOB
David is the Executive Director, Boarding and Director BSA/TIOB and joined the BSA group in August 2023. He has over 20 years’ experience in boarding schools and has worked in a range of schools in the UK and Africa, alongside being a prep school governor and a trustee of a MAT. Before taking up his post at the BSA, David was Deputy Head Pastoral at a large co-ed independent school in the South-East.
Alicia Drummond, Founder, The Wellbeing Hub
Alicia is a BACP-accredited therapist, parenting expert, and keynote speaker passionate about empowering children, young people, parents, and educators to support mental health and wellbeing. Drawing on psychotherapy, psychology, and neuroscience, she combines research with her experience as an adolescent therapist. A member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for a Fit and Healthy Childhood and a regular media contributor, Alicia has worked with schools nationwide for over a decade. In 2020, she founded The Wellbeing Hub, an award-winning platform supporting over 130,000 pupils in 220+ schools with evidence-based tools for staff, parents, carers, and pupils.
Gaelle Sullivan, Director of Research, Inclusion and IELA
Gaelle is Director of Research, Inclusion and IELA and joined the BSA in January 2023. She is an experienced senior leader and has worked in a range of state and independent schools. She is a qualified SENCO and holds a Masters Degree in Inclusive Education. Prior to joining the BSA, Gaelle was Deputy Head Pastoral, DSL and Head of Boarding at an all-girls independent school in the South-East.
Dan Richardson, MSc, SENr, Performance Nutrition Expert
Dan Richardson is a performance nutrition expert who supports elite and school-level athletes to optimise their health and athletic potential. He’s worked professionally as a nutritionist with teams such as Manchester City, Sale Sharks, Warrington Wolves and currently is currently the Academy Nutrition Lead at Leeds United. His approach to nutrition is simple, evidence-based & food-first, focusing on utilising the latest nutrition research to support all students and athletes.
