The Hidden Power of Prevention
We all want children to thrive—not just survive the school day. But too often, mental health support in primary schools only begins when things reach crisis point. What if we could do better?
At myHappymind, we believe we can—and should. We work with over 1,000 schools and early years settings across the UK, reaching more than 400,000 children, to deliver a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing. Rooted in neuroscience and NHS-backed, our preventative programme helps children understand their brains, build resilience, boost self-esteem, and regulate emotions—all before they ever reach a crisis.
New research from the Centre for Mental Health warns of a trillion-pound cost to the UK economy if we continue to ignore the growing crisis in children’s mental health. But prevention is not only possible—it’s already happening. And we’re proving it works.
What Prevention Looks Like in Action
Prevention isn’t a one-off assembly or poster on a wall. It’s embedded into the culture of the school—woven into everyday language, interactions, and teaching.
With myHappymind, that means:
- 🧠
Weekly classroom lessons that teach emotional literacy, self-regulation, and resilience skills. - ✍️ Daily journaling to reinforce positive habits and self-reflection.
- 📱 A Parent App that aligns home and school strategies, ensuring consistency and shared understanding.
- 🧑🤝🧑 Whole-staff training and support to create emotionally safe, calm environments across the school.
This is what a preventative approach looks like in action. It’s structured, consistent, and grounded in evidence.
How Do We Know What We Do Works?
We don’t just deliver—we measure. Our impact is tracked through multiple layers of feedback, data, and evaluation:
- 🟢 Wellbeing surveys – Capturing changes in pupil confidence, resilience, and emotional wellbeing.
- 🗣️ Real voices – Hearing directly from children, teachers, and families about what’s changing.
- 📈 Ongoing support – Every school is assigned a dedicated Customer Happiness Manager to stay in touch year-round, supporting implementation and reviewing progress.
Together, this gives us a clear picture of what’s working—and where we can go even further.
What’s Changing in Schools—And Why It Matters
From thousands of primary schools, one message comes through: prevention transforms culture.
- 💪 Teachers feel empowered – 99% are now having regular conversations—formal and informal—about pupils’ mental wellbeing each week.
- 🌱 Resilience is growing – 87% of teachers have seen an improvement in their children’s resilience and perseverance when trying to achieve their goals.
- ✨ Behaviour improves – Schools have reported up to a 60% reduction in external exclusions.
- 🌟 Staff wellbeing is rising – 98% of staff say they better understand their brains and how to support their own mental health.
- 🧠 Self-esteem is improving – 87% of teachers said they have seen the self-esteem and confidence of the children improving from using myHappymind so far.
- 🤝 Families are more involved – When parents are engaged through the app, schools report a dramatic increase in home-school consistency and support.
These aren’t isolated wins. This is systemic, sustainable change—and it’s growing every term.
Why Measuring Impact Isn’t Optional—It’s Essential
Let’s be honest: prevention doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves. Why? Because it happens before something goes wrong. But that’s also what makes it powerful.
Tracking the impact of preventative mental health programmes does four critical things:
✅ Proves it works – For funders, leaders, and policymakers, strong data makes prevention a must-have.
Proves it works – For funders, leaders, and policymakers, strong data makes prevention a must-have.🔄️ Drives improvement – We learn what works best and evolve from there.
Drives improvement – We learn what works best and evolve from there.🛠️ Secures sustainability – Evidence unlocks long-term investment and commitment.
💬 Builds trust – When families and staff see real change, they become advocates for it.Where We Go From Here
We’re not starting out—we’re scaling up.
With over 2,000 schools and settings already using myHappymind, and 34 partnerships with local authorities and NHS providers in place, our preventative approach is already making a system-wide impact.
Now, we’re focused on scaling that impact even further—expanding our partnerships with local authorities, NHS services, and multi-academy trusts to embed prevention across every layer of the education and health system. At the same time, we’re investing in long-term research to strengthen the evidence base and ensure that the change we’re creating is not just powerful—but lasting.
At a time when the mental health crisis is costing children their futures and economies their growth, prevention isn’t just good practice—it’s a national necessity.
Let’s Put Prevention at the Heart of Every School
If you’re a headteacher, MAT leader, early years practitioner, or policymaker who believes children deserve better, earlier support, we’d love to hear from you.
📌 Explore our latest impact stories📌 Speak to our team about bringing prevention to your schoolBecause when we start early, act consistently, and build on what works, prevention isn’t just possible. It’s powerful.
Ready to Make Prevention a Priority?
If you’re serious about building a mentally healthy school where pupils and staff thrive, let’s take the next step together.
📞 Talk to our team about how we can support your school!
📄 Download our national impact report for practical insights and proven outcomes!
My Happy Mind: Help your child build life-long confidence and resilience
By Laura Earnshaw
My Happy Mind is the first book from our founder Laura Earnshaw. The book reveals all the science-backed secrets used in our curriculum to empower and educate parents — whether your child is struggling already, or you’re interested in future proofing their mental health, there’s something in here for everyone.
You Can Do Anything!:
Find your happiness. Chase your dreams. Be unstoppable.
Written in collaboration with laura earnshaw
Whether it’s sport, art, maths or just spending time with friends, this book will help young readers discover what it is they love and how they can harness this to achieve whatever they want in life.
Written in collaboration with children’s mental health expert Laura Earnshaw, this empowering book is packed full of Jonnie’s own stories alongside practical tips, tricks and journaling opportunities.
