Materials for anti-racism and mental health in schools

Anna Freud, a leading mental health charity based in the UK, has created a comprehensive suite of free resources to help schools tackle racism and its impact on young people’s mental health. With over 70 years of experience combining science with lived experience, Anna Freud supports the mental wellbeing of children and young people.

These resources, tailored for professionals in primary, secondary and further education, offer practical guidance to foster anti-racist practices in schools:

• Talking racism and mental health in schools: podcast series explores what it means to be an anti-racist school, and the practical steps schools can take to become anti-racist.
• Anti-racism and mental health in schools e-learning is a free online course for education professionals, focusing on understanding and addressing the impact of racism on mental health in schools.
• Reviewing existing school policies with an anti-racist lens is a guide to identifying institutional or systemic racism and improving policies – such as behaviour, anti-bullying, exclusions, and uniform policies – to make them fair and equitable for all members of the school community.
• Gathering student voice on racism and mental health in schools resource shares several strategies for gathering students' perspectives on anti-racism, including sample survey questions, and guidance on how to implement them effectively.
• Teaching curriculum topics linked to racism and handling racist world events is a lesson-planning guide to support educators in teaching topics related to racism or addressing potentially traumatic racist incidents in the wider world.
• Improving school staff knowledge and confidence around anti-racism is a curated collection of books, videos and articles to help educators improve their racial literacy and deepen their understanding of how racism affects mental health.

These resources are designed to help schools create inclusive environments where all students feel safe and supported.

‘Research has shown that racism has a detrimental impact on the mental health of children and young people. Our anti-racism resources help education staff to embed an anti-racist whole-school or college approach, supporting the mental wellbeing of all students and staff.’ 

– Natalie Merrett, Head of Knowledge Dissemination in Schools.