UNDERSTANDING MENTAL ILL-HEALTH Phil Tottman
Phil Tottman is a journalist, writer, and co-developer of Book of Beasties: The Mental Wellness Card Game (
www.bookofbeasties.com). Graduating from the University of West London with a BA Hons in Broadcast Journalism, he went on to write for media companies Bauer, Newbay, and Incisive, before diverting his focus to solo projects with illustrator, Tom Dryland, and designer/wife, Nadia De Kuyper. Following a decision to put his media career on hold to focus on his mental health, he says he used his own experiences ‘as inspiration to create a resource that could help children and young people better understand their own mental health and wellness’.
However, if developers of such resources make it a priority to keep costs as low as possible, without obviously driving business into the ground, not only could more schools and more children benefit from using them, but it could also potentially save the education sector millions of pounds.
Contradictory information There is just so much contradictory information out there regarding the mental health of children and young people, and the efforts going into improving and maintaining it. It should not be as difficult as it is to receive help, tools, and resources, that could be beneficial, it should not cost the earth, and funding that goes towards future generations should increase, rather than diminish. That, however, is just the world
that we live in, so what can we do? We could have that conversation for a start. We could increase the teaching of coping methods to practice during CAMHS’ excessive wait times. We could improve our focus on de-stigmatising mental ill- health among young people. Equally, we could make learning more inclusive for SEND children, and could also prioritise the learning of life skills such as emotional literacy and resilience over less constructive subjects.
That is a lot of ‘we could’, and I dare say we won’t be seeing much of ‘we will’ any time soon, at least not for all of those points.
The Book of Beasties slogan is ‘Inspire the conversation, brighten the future.’ As clichéd as that may sound, this mantra is something we truly believe in. It is our duty to brighten the future for those in our care,
whoever that may be, and to ensure that they are fully prepared, have the courage and knowledge to face adversity, and strive for great things – maybe even climbing Everest backwards should they wish to do so.
References 1 Mental Health Foundation. What new statistics show about children’s mental health. 23 November 2018. [Online at
https://tinyurl.com/y23ugxjv].
2 Games and Learning. By the Numbers: 10 Stats on the Growth of Gamification, 27 April 2015. [Online at
https://tinyurl.com/y4wb7b7t].
3 Heads Together. Mentally healthy schools. Whole school approach. [Online at
https://www.mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/ whole-school-approach].
4 Public Health England. Local action on health inequalities: Building children and young people’s resilience in schools. September 2014. [
https://tinyurl.com/yy9t8gnf].
5 Trailblazer sites to be selected to test £1.5 bn plans. Health Service Journal. 26 July 2018. [
https://tinyurl.com/y46w5oyt].
6 Local Government Association. Bright Futures. Children and Young People’s Mental Health. [Online at
https://tinyurl.com/y4ww9aew].
7 YoungMinds.
www.youngminds.org.uk/ 8 The Guardian. Schools funding shortfall of £5.4bn ‘worse than estimated’. 26 March 2019. [
https://tinyurl.com/y3hlk749].
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