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Statutory Framework
KCSIE 2025 (in force September 2025) explicitly requires schools to promote the mental health and wellbeing of pupils and to understand that mental health difficulties can be indicators of abuse or neglect, or can themselves constitute harm requiring a safeguarding response.
Under Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, "harm" includes emotional harm — meaning significant impairment of emotional development constitutes a child protection concern under the Children Act 1989.
Key Legislation
- Children Act 1989, s.17: A child is "in need" if unlikely to achieve reasonable health or development without provision of services — mental health clearly included
- Children Act 1989, s.47: Duty to investigate where child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm — emotional harm qualifies
- Mental Health Act 1983 (amended 2007): Emergency powers for detaining a child at risk — section 136 (place of safety) and section 2 (assessment)
- Education Act 2002, s.175: Schools must make arrangements to protect and promote children's welfare
What KCSIE 2025 Requires of Schools
- ✓ DSL must be trained in mental health as a safeguarding issue
- ✓ Staff must know how to identify mental health difficulties and refer appropriately
- ✓ Schools must have a senior mental health lead (DfE grant-funded training available)
- ✓ Whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing required
- ✓ DSL must understand that MH issues may be caused by, or mask, abuse
- ✓ Concerns must be recorded, even if not yet at threshold for referral
When Mental Health Becomes a Safeguarding Concern
Not every child with a mental health difficulty requires a safeguarding referral. The question is: is the child suffering, or at risk of suffering, significant harm? The following situations typically cross that threshold.
1. Mental health as a result of abuse or neglect
A child presenting with anxiety, depression, PTSD symptoms, or dissociation may be experiencing — or have experienced — abuse at home or elsewhere. MH symptoms are one of the most common presentations of ongoing harm. Always explore cause, not just presentation.
2. Self-harm with high lethality or escalating frequency
Low-level self-harm may sit within a pastoral/MH support framework. However, deep, frequent, or medically serious self-harm, or self-harm involving ligature, chemicals, or burning, typically requires a s.17 referral to children's social care and/or a CAMHS crisis response.
3. Suicidal ideation — especially with a plan or intent
A child who expresses wishes to die, who has a plan, who has access to means, or who has made a recent attempt requires immediate referral. This is a child protection emergency if the risk is assessed as imminent.
4. Emotional harm through parental MH or substance misuse
A child living with a parent whose mental illness or addiction significantly impairs their ability to parent is at risk of harm under s.17/s.47. This is not about punishing parents — it is about ensuring the child's needs are met.
5. Mental health as part of exploitation
Young people being exploited (county lines, CSE, online grooming) frequently present with MH difficulties first. Anxiety, depression, dissociation, and trauma responses should prompt DSLs to consider exploitation as a possible cause.
The Threshold Question
Use Working Together 2026's framework: Is this child suffering, or at risk of suffering, significant harm? If yes — refer to children's social care under s.47. If the child has needs but is not at that threshold — consider a s.17 referral for early help. If concern is pastoral — support within school and monitor closely.
Remember: you do not need proof to refer. A reasonable belief that a child may be at risk is sufficient and legally required.
Warning Signs for Staff
These indicators should prompt a conversation with the DSL. No single sign is conclusive — look for clusters and changes over time.
High Concern — Refer to DSL Immediately
- ● Disclosure of suicidal thoughts, plan, or intent
- ● Visible injuries consistent with self-harm (cuts, burns, bruising)
- ● Child found with self-harm implements (blades, lighters, ligatures)
- ● Disclosure of serious abuse at home
- ● Acute dissociative episode or psychotic break
- ● Expressed intent to harm self or others
Concern — Log and Monitor, Discuss with DSL
- ● Significant withdrawal from friends, activities, or school
- ● Wearing long sleeves in warm weather (possible concealment of self-harm)
- ● Dramatic weight change or disordered eating behaviours
- ● Giving away possessions
- ● References to hopelessness, pointlessness, or "not being here"
- ● Sudden change in affect — calm after prolonged distress can signal intent
- ● Unexplained absences, especially in clusters
Important: Staff should never promise confidentiality to a child disclosing mental health concerns. The correct response is: "I'm going to need to share this with someone who can help. You're not in trouble. This is about keeping you safe."
Responding to Self-Harm: A Trauma-Informed Approach
Key principle: Self-harm is most often a coping mechanism, not a suicide attempt. Responding with alarm, disgust, or punishment significantly worsens outcomes. A calm, curious, non-judgmental response is both ethically correct and clinically superior.
Step 1 — Immediate response when self-harm is disclosed or discovered
Stay calm. Your reaction shapes how safe the young person feels. Thank them for telling you. Do not express shock or horror. Address any immediate first-aid need — if the wound requires medical attention, act on that first.
Do not: demand to see the injury, force the young person to show you, make them feel ashamed, tell others unnecessarily, or promise it won't happen again.
Step 2 — Inform the DSL and record
All self-harm disclosures or discoveries must be referred to the DSL and recorded on the school's safeguarding system. The DSL will assess whether a referral to children's social care, CAMHS, or other service is required.
Record factually: what was said, what was seen, time, date, who was present. Do not interpret or add personal opinions.
Step 3 — Parental notification
In most cases, parents should be informed. However, if the self-harm is related to abuse at home, parental notification could put the child at further risk — the DSL must make this judgement in consultation with children's social care if needed.
Involve the young person in the decision where possible. Ideally, the young person should be present when parents are told, unless this poses a risk.
Step 4 — Ongoing support and monitoring
Assign a trusted adult within school as a point of contact. Agree a safety plan. Ensure the young person knows they can talk to this person without getting into trouble. Review regularly. CAMHS referral should be considered if self-harm is recurrent.
Source: NICE Guidelines CG133 (2022). Self-harm in over 8s: short-term management and prevention of recurrence. | DfE (2025). Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools. | NSPCC (2024). Self-harm: information for schools.
Suicidal Ideation: Risk Assessment and Immediate Response
If a child is in immediate danger — call 999.
Do not leave the child alone. Do not promise not to tell anyone. Do not minimise or argue with the young person's feelings. Your job is to keep them safe, not to solve the problem in this moment.
Suicide is the leading cause of death in people aged 10–34 in the UK (ONS, 2023). It is not rare, and school staff will encounter suicidal ideation during their careers. The key is knowing how to respond — calmly, safely, and in line with your school's protocol.
Assessing Risk — Ask These Questions
Research shows that asking about suicidal thoughts does NOT increase risk. Asking directly is safer than avoiding the topic.
- Ideation: "Have you been thinking about ending your life or not wanting to be here?"
- Plan: "Do you have a plan for how you would do it?"
- Means: "Do you have access to what you would need?"
- Intent: "Are you planning to act on these thoughts?"
- Timeline: "Have you thought about when?"
- Previous attempts: "Have you tried to hurt yourself before?"
High Risk Indicators
- ● Specific plan and access to means
- ● Recent suicide attempt
- ● History of previous attempts
- ● Recent loss or trauma (bereavement, relationship ending)
- ● Giving away possessions
- ● Sudden calm after prolonged distress
- ● Social isolation and withdrawal
- ● Access to method (medication at home, weapons)
Immediate Action Protocol
- Do not leave the young person alone
- Call 999 if risk is immediate — treat as a medical emergency
- If not immediate — call DSL and parents simultaneously
- Contact CAMHS crisis line for your area
- If out of hours — NHS 111, option 2 (mental health)
- Document everything factually and immediately
- Arrange next-day follow-up regardless of outcome
CAMHS and Referral Pathways
CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) is the NHS specialist service for children's mental health. Referrals can come from GPs, schools, or other professionals. In 2023/24, over 1.09 million children were referred to CAMHS in England — waiting times average 18+ weeks in many areas, with some areas exceeding 12 months (NHS England, 2024).
NHS specialist mental health — refer via GP or school nurse. Use for moderate-to-severe MH difficulties.
Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub — use when MH concern crosses into safeguarding threshold (s.17 / s.47).
Local authority early help team — use for children with needs below child protection threshold who need multi-agency support.
While Waiting for CAMHS — What Schools Can Do
- ✓ Assign a trusted adult (key worker) the child can access daily
- ✓ Develop a written safety plan with the young person
- ✓ Consider reasonable adjustments (reduced timetable, quiet space, flexible deadlines)
- ✓ Signpost to Kooth (kooth.com) — free online counselling, no referral, no waiting list
- ✓ Signpost to Young Minds (youngminds.org.uk) for self-help resources
- ✓ Request an urgent review if the child's presentation deteriorates
Guidance for Parents and Carers
Parental response to a child's mental health crisis is one of the strongest predictors of outcome. Calm, accepting, non-judgmental responses reduce risk. Rejection, minimisation, or punishment significantly increase it.
What Helps
- ✓ Listen without immediately trying to fix the problem
- ✓ Validate feelings: "That sounds really hard"
- ✓ Ask how you can help rather than assuming
- ✓ Stay calm even if you feel frightened
- ✓ Maintain normal routines where possible
- ✓ Keep communication with school open
- ✓ Look after your own wellbeing too — seek support from Young Minds Parents Helpline
What Causes Harm
- ✗ Telling them to "snap out of it" or "pull yourself together"
- ✗ Expressing anger or disappointment at their difficulties
- ✗ Sharing concerns with extended family without permission
- ✗ Punishing self-harm (confiscating items without support)
- ✗ Minimising: "Other people have it worse"
- ✗ Dismissing professional advice
Who to Call
Emergency & Crisis
- 999 — Child in immediate danger
- NHS 111 (option 2) — Mental health crisis, out of hours
- A&E — After a self-harm incident requiring medical attention
- Samaritans: 116 123 — 24/7, free, any crisis
- PAPYRUS HOPELINEUK: 0800 068 4141 — Young person suicide prevention
Support & Signposting
- Childline: 0800 1111 — Free, confidential, 24/7 for children
- Young Minds Parents Helpline: 0808 802 5544 — Mon–Fri 9:30am–4pm
- Kooth: kooth.com — Free online counselling for young people (no referral)
- Beat (eating disorders): 0808 801 0677
- NSPCC: 0808 800 5000 — Safeguarding advice for professionals and parents