Thirteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The unprecedented number of children suffering from mental illnesses in the UK, has prompted the government into promising that, ‘every child will learn about mental health and wellbeing’ (DoE/DoH 2017 p29). This signals a fundamental transformation in schools’ involvement in mental health and the state’s extended reach into children’s psychic development. We might consider this against a broader shift from a ‘pathogenic’ to ‘salutogenic’ approach to mental health (Weare 2010) where a focus upon mental health problems is replaced with one that designs actions to promote wellbeing and health. At the heart of this project is a narrative of mental health constructed through the architecture of mental strength: resilience, thriving, character. It is argued that such concepts reflect the policy hijacking of what are socio-cultural and structurally shaped protective factors, reduced to the products of personal capability and individual agency. Drawing upon a pilot study exploring young peoples’ understandings of mental health concepts within six secondary schools’ identified for an intensive focus on mental health education, this paper argues that the policy formulation of good mental health in terms of ‘push on through’ the pressures experienced in today’s performative culture of schooling, run counter to the best interests of children.