About The Ossigeno
We are proud members of the CYPMH
At any one time, 1 in 6 children and young people have a diagnosable mental health problem, and it is well established that most adolescent and adult mental illness can be traced back to childhood. Addressing issues early helps individuals and society – that message needs a powerful voice.
The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition brings together organisations to campaign jointly and provides a strong unified voice speaking out about children and young people’s mental health.
A different approach for education
Are you open to new thinking and keen to transform your school's understanding of, and responses to, behaviour, mental health and wellbeing?
The Ossigeno believes schools should be places where
- Everyone feels valued and included
- Everyone has their needs recognised and met
- Everyone feels safe enough to learn, challenge and grow
We fundamentally believe that a sense of safety is pivotal in every classroom, youth setting and work place.
Please get in touch to find out more about us and the work we do.
Like Minds
'Ossigeno' is Italian for oxygen - a basic human need.
We believe psychological and emotional safety to be like the oxygen in your setting; it's essential, and you will know when it's missing.
The team at The Ossigeno are experienced teachers, leaders, mentors, trainers and facilitators. We are passionate about education and believe our schools should be places of safety, nurture and challenge.
We want to do things differently - to harness the value of classroom and whole school cultures; to challenge the status quo and to deliver innovative training that puts the needs of the school community at the heart.
We are bringing years of teaching, training and research to educational settings (and beyond) to rethink approaches to behaviour, mental health and wellbeing.
We recognise that it is not just within education that we come into contact with young people, or that it is just young people who may need some wellbeing support. From 2024 we are working with corporate settings to look at supporting young people, employers and employees. Find out more.
Training and Consultancy
At 'The Ossigeno' our training and support services are based on relational practices, underpinned by the principles of psychological safety. We believe this to be a key indicator in building happy, successful and high performing cultures. Creating classrooms, and work places, where individuals feel they can contribute, question and challenge.
We offer a range of training support packages for education, charity and corporate settings including;
- Youth Mental Health First Aid
- Mental Health First Aid
- Mental Health Skills for Managers
- Mental Health & Understanding Behaviour
We can also work with you to look at;
- The Ossigeno - Bespoke; Social Emotional Mental Health support - including setting up in-school provision
- The Ossigeno Staffroom. This includes Reflective Spaces (to support staff workplace wellbeing): Group or individual sessions. A time to think about work based challenges, changes and how they impact us and those we work with. Looking to 'lighten the load' and promote positive ways forward.
Why Now?
NICE Guidelines for Social, Emotional and Mental wellbeing in Primary and Secondary Schools states:
Schools should adopt a whole-school approach to support positive social, emotional and mental wellbeing of staff, children and young people in primary and secondary education.
Ensure that the school has a culture, ethos and practice that strengthens relational approaches and inclusion, and that recognises the importance of psychological safety.
The Commission On Young Lives report 'Heads Up: Rethinking mental health services for vulnerable young people' states: Children and their parents and families have told the Commission of the damaging impact that exclusions have on them, often being out of school for extended periods, feeling isolated and away from peers and once again feeling uncared for. Children can be punished for behaviour that is linked to their mental health, and responses to their behaviours, which can often include the use of isolation rooms and exclusion - rather than therapeutic interventions - which can further harm young people’s mental health.
COYL-Heads-Up-Report-July-2022.pdf (thecommissiononyounglives.co.uk
Sir Norman Lamb, Chair of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition: “We must not forget that children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is more important than ever. Our preliminary findings suggest that whilst young people are aware that behaviour is often linked to their mental health, they do not believe that current behaviour policies are effective. We share the ambition of government to create supportive, safe and inclusive school environments that enable and facilitate learning".