I’d say that 2017 is going to be an important year for delivering mindfulness across Fife. The reason for this claim is that tomorrow Fife Education will launch the Our Minds Matter Framework (OMM). This is a policy document that explicitly seeks to address the issue of mental health for the young people (YP) of Fife. It is informed and agreed by CAMHS Fife and identifies three different work streams for service delivery 1. Emotional distressed YP, 2. universal, 3. the people that support YP. OMM has the potential to bring mental health into the 21 century and out of the stigma of the dark ages.
I’d say it has the potential to be revolutionary in terms of current and future ways of thinking, acting and practising towards the self-management of mental health. Well I would because I saw the OMM Framework as an opportunity to illustrate the impact that mindfulness can have on the health and well-being of young people, peer groups, teachers, and parents. In fact I said that delivering mindfulness across a school in this way would not only transform a school, it had the potential to transform the culture surrounding mental health in the Fife community. To my delight the OMM Commissioning Panel were impressed by my presentation and told me to get started. So with the help of three other qualified and experienced mindfulness teachers I have started teaching mindfulness in two schools in Fife (young people, teachers, parents). I’ve also been teaching mindfulness to the new CAMHS teams that will be working in schools, and also to school nurses. This creates a common language and practises around mental health, so that young people can talk to the adults about their mental health with a shared language. It means that the teachers and adults that support our young people are also able to self-manage their own mental health. That has to be a good thing, eh!
So yes, I think Monday 8th May 2017 will an important day for the community of Fife, and I will be writing this blog to explain what is happening and how it is going. I’ll also be writing about other projects I am involved within Fife: working with mindfulness techniques and attitudes with paramedics and venerable young people. In all I’m hoping to share best practice and research on the development of mindfulness in Fife.