We were honoured to spend some time talking to Professor Jess Deighton, Professor of Child Mental Health and Wellbeing at University College London and Director of the Evidence Based Practice Unit at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, about the role schools play in mental health, and on school-based interventions.

Jess talks about why schools are such an important setting in child and adolescent mental health, and the roles they play, and how well equipped schools and teachers.

Jess details some of current intervention programmes that support mental health and well-being in school pupils, what the research shows, and highlights some of the important studies and findings.

We also hear how to translate research into practice, how to go about embedding good mental health across school communities, and what more can be done to support teachers and school leaders in creating mentally healthy schools.