School as a safe place: How to support pupils’ social, emotional, mental health (SEMH) – the view of school staff in a mainstream secondary school. A grounded theory study.

Promoting the mental health and well-being of adolescents has increasingly become a priority for legislation in the UK. The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice (DfE, 2015) highlights the increasing responsibility professionals have for supporting and promoting pupils’ social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs, a role which is especially pertinent for schools. However, there is a lack of current research exploring how school staff view promoting and supporting pupils’ emotional well-being. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken in one mainstream secondary school to gather the views of six school staff on their experiences and views of supporting pupils’ emotional well-being. The aim of the study was to explore and explain the contexts and mechanisms which facilitate or hinder how staff promote and support children and young people’s mental health and well-being. The data was analysed by use of a grounded theory methodology. The theory emerging from the data suggests that school staff believe that by having a structured, clear approach to supporting and promoting emotional well-being the school is able to become a safe space in an ever-demanding society. The overarching theory is labelled ‘providing containment – school as a safe place’. The findings are discussed in relation to existing literature and research. Implications for secondary schools and Educational Psychologists are discussed.