2767 – Creating an educational intervention to raise mental health awareness and tackle stigma in adolescents in the UK: ‘headucate’

Introduction Against a backdrop of poor mental health education in UK schools a group of students from Norwich Medical School have formed a student society called ‘Headucate’ in order to create, deliver and evaluate an educational intervention for adolescents, initially to be delivered in Norfolk schools. Objectives To create an educational intervention that: • Is the length of a standard lesson • Is age appropriate and acceptable • Contains appropriate signposting • Contains content that challenges common myths and replaces them with knowledge • Contains content that encourages empathy and understanding towards those with mental illnesses • Is easily delivered in the same way each time so that its effectiveness can be evaluated Aim To create an intervention effective at tackling stigma and empowering adolescents to recognise signs of poor mental health and access services appropriately. Methods Lesson plan created after consultation with psychiatrists, a psychologist, a GP, a university outreach professional, a teacher and secondary school age children, then trialled and revised. Results Interactive workshop produced with 5 sections. 1) Myth vs Fact activity that dispels prevalent myths 2) Scenario based activity to demonstrate that mental health is a spectrum 3) An interactive presentation covering the most common mental illnesses and their symptoms 4) An activity focusing on talking to those with mental illnesses, furthering the scenario from the previous activity 5) A question and answer session. Every student leaves with a leaflet containing appropriate signposting. Conclusion We have created an educational intervention ready to be delivered and evaluated.