Creating an innovative mental health signposting resource
Contributed by
Renfrewshire Council's Children's Services
Introduction
Renfrewshire Council’s Children’s Services piloted an innovative digital mental health signposting resource that is easy to access via a QR code. This guide explains exactly how they did it and the steps you can follow.
Renfrewshire Council’s Children’s Services produced an authority-wide digital Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy to ensure consistency of language and approach around mental health across education establishments. As part of this, it created a digital mental health and wellbeing signposting resource which is updated centrally.
The signposting resource is an easy tool for staff to use and directs children, young people, parents, and carers to local, national, and online support. To enable easy access, the resource was linked to a QR code which has been distributed to education centres across Renfrewshire. Staff can have the QR code as a sticker on the back of their ID badges, making the resource easy to access and share.
Organisations that are included in the signposting document include The-Exchange (Renfrewshire’s main counselling service), Childline, Beat, CEOP (Child Exploitation Online Prevention), Samaritans, LGBT Youth Scotland, Cruse, and others.
The resource ensures that all staff feel confident around signposting and means that the whole school community is aware of supports and resources within Renfrewshire and beyond.
Steps
1. Create a signposting page
The first step is to create a signposting page that includes any appropriate local or national organisations.
Renfrewshire Council created this signposting resource as part of its Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy for Education Establishments. The policy and resources contained were created by colleagues across Education, Health and Social Care Partnerships, and Youth Services. The group shared information regarding appropriate organisations for a centralised signposting resource.
2. Generate a QR code
Next, create a QR code using a free QR code generator that links through to your signposting page. Distribute this to staff working across education establishments and in the wider community.
3. Pilot the QR Code
Look to pilot the QR code within an appropriate setting for your organisation or project – test it out, and see ways it can support you in your work. Encourage staff to have a conversation with the young person about the range of information included on the signposting page and how they might want to access them.
Renfrewshire Council’s Mental Health Action Group piloted the QR code within two secondary, one primary, and one early years establishment. This involved speaking to the Head Teacher/Senior Leadership Teams about the resource and its benefits. The schools printed the QR code on labels for all school staff to have on their lanyards, ensuring a whole school approach.
The signposting resource and QR code are also being piloted within sports clubs in the Renfrewshire community and are appearing on posters in clubhouses and stickers. One club is currently exploring the possibility of printing it onto clothes.
4. Promote it widely and monitor its engagement
Promote your QR code as far and wide as you can – think outside the box in terms of where it could go and who you could share it with. Renfrewshire Council’s Children’s Services promote the code on an ongoing basis, for example, on digital materials, staff and pupil training, presentations, newsletters and on Renfrewshire’s social media platforms.
Make sure to monitor your engagement too so you know what is or isn’t working. As a guide, in the first 6 month period, Renfrewshire Council’s resource had around 15,000 engagements.
5. Maintain the signposting page
From then on, keep your signposting page up-to-date on a regular basis.
Renfrewshire Council’s signposting resource is maintained centrally, ensuring organisation details are up-to-date and accurate. The resource is also updated with organisations in response to developing needs.
Software and tools
QR Code Generator is a website that generates QR codes for free.
Microsoft Sway is an easy-to-use digital storytelling app for creating interactive reports, presentations, stories, and more.
For this project, it was used to house the mental health and wellbeing signposting page. It is also used to share a regular newsletter which includes information about authority and national news, resources, and training in relation to mental health and wellbeing.
There were minimal costs attached to this. Anyone can access Microsoft Sway at no cost, and there are several free QR Code Generators that can be used. The main cost to centres and schools lies with the printing of the QR Code onto stickers.
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