Mental Health Awareness Week

Resource type: Event

Price band: Free

Key stage: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5

Region(s): All of UK

Mental Health Awareness Week provides an opportunity for everyone in the UK to focus on achieving good mental health. Mental Health Awareness Week 2025 takes place from 12th – 18th May on the theme of Community.

The Mental Health Foundation provides access to a range of supporting resources for primary and secondary schools, including:

A Mental Health Awareness Day pack with activities, lesson plans and discussion points to tie in with this year’s theme.
Themed packs covering a range of mental health topics. Packs contain an assembly plan, class activities and a guide for pupils, staff and parents/caregivers.
Access to the fully-resourced Peer Education Project, a free programme for secondary schools that aims to give young people the skills and knowledge they need to safeguard their mental health and that of their peers.
Information and resources to help schools run a Wear it Green Day on 15th May to raise funds for mental health research and programmes.
Key mental health statistics for children and young people.

Cost: Free

About the Mental Health Foundation: The Mental Health Foundation is the UK’s leading charity for mental health. The Foundation works to prevent mental health problems and to drive change towards a mentally healthy society for all. It is the home of Mental Health Awareness Week, which was set up in 2001 and is now one of the biggest awareness weeks in the UK.

Further resources:

The Reading Well Programme provides booklists that help young people of all ages understand and manage their mental wellbeing.
Explore the Mental Health, Emotional Literacy and Growth Mindset booklists for primary aged children from Books for Topics.
Take a look at the Mental Health and Wellbeing book packs for KS1 and KS2 from Best Books for Schools.
BookTrust has compiled lists of recommended titles for all ages that explore issues of mental health and emotional literacy.
Books Beyond Words are award-winning, wordless books covering topics such as physical and mental health, lifestyle and relationships, trauma, and grief. The books are designed to be used with children and young people who find pictures easier to understand than words to help them develop the emotional vocabulary to express their feelings and empower them to take control of their emotions and behaviours.
Beano for Schools in partnership with Young Minds has created a series of lesson plans featuring favourite Beano characters to help children better understand their emotions and mental health. The lesson plans include a short animation, PowerPoint presentation and activity sheets. There are versions for KS1 and KS2 and everything is linked to the PSHE curriculum in England, Scotland and Wales.
CLPE has created free teaching sequences for a range of high-quality picture books that cover themes such as Feelings, Growing and Changing and Empathy and Kindness. The teaching notes cover EYFS – KS2 and can be downloaded with a free introductory membership.
To help primary schools mark Children’s Mental Health Week 2024, the National Literacy Trust produced assemblies and lesson plans based on Charlie Mackesy’s book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. The resources are designed to encourage pupils to explore what mental wellbeing means and to reflect on the ways the characters in the book look after their own wellbeing. You can also download assembly presentations for primary and secondary schools that highlight the relationship between reading and wellbeing. All website resources available with the NLT’s free membership.
Three Coram charities have combined to create a Mental Wellbeing Toolkit for primary schools based on the Five Ways to Wellbeing framework. The toolkit includes drama activities, lesson plans, recommended booklists and book chat questions. Free to download with registration.
Download wellbeing lesson plans for teenagers aged 11-18 developed by BrainWaves, a long-term collaborative research and education programme led by the University of Oxford in partnership with The Day and the University of Swansea. The lesson plans have been developed using the latest evidence from brain science and pedagogy and there are also free CPD webinars for teachers. Free to download with registration.
Sign up for the free Mental Health Champions training course from Place2Be. The award-winning five week course is delivered online with regular start dates through the term.
Find more resources to support Mental Health and Empathy here.