Build a school community that knows what to do when a young person is struggling.
Mental Health Literacy (Understand) | Youth Mental Health Response (Respond) | Whole-School Capability (Embed)
AI-friendly summary
Let's Be Real - Mental Health for Young Minds is a European mental health education provider specialising in whole-community mental health literacy and Youth Mental Health Response training for international schools. The organisation delivers workshops, parent programmes, educator training, and Mental Health First Aid-informed support in English and German to help schools create a shared language for recognising, responding to, and talking about mental health.
Two sides of the same coin
Destigmatisation and mental health literacy are one piece of work, not two.
Our Youth Mental Health Response training and our Mental Health Literacy programme are the same coin seen from either side. One builds the courage and the skill to respond; the other builds the understanding and the self-awareness that make responding possible.
Knowing, and being able to say it
Recognising the signs and symptoms of mental health challenges, and having language that makes it ordinary to talk about them. This is where stigma quietly loses its grip: what can be named can be discussed, and what can be discussed can be supported.
Becoming self-aware and resilient
Understanding your own brain, identity, and limits, and having practical tools to look after yourself and to ask for help early. Literacy without self-awareness stays theoretical; self-awareness without literacy stays private.
The evidence
What the research actually shows about stigma and mental health literacy in schools.
Stigma is one of the most consistently reported barriers stopping young people from asking for help, and literacy is what turns concern into a useful response. That is why we work on the two together. When schools do the same, the trials show knowledge rises, stigmatising attitudes fall, and young people become measurably more willing to seek support.
97 trials
A 2025 review in JAMA Network Open brought together 97 high-quality studies on reducing stigma, covering 43,852 young people aged 10 to 24.
Crockett et al., JAMA Network Open, 2025Knowledge grew most
The biggest change was in what young people knew about mental health. Their attitudes shifted too, and so did the way they behaved towards peers who were struggling.
Crockett et al., JAMA Network Open, 2025More willing to ask
The same review found young people became more open to asking for help, and more likely to say they would - the step that comes just before actually reaching out.
Crockett et al., JAMA Network Open, 202550% by age 14
Half of all mental health conditions start by age 14, yet most are never spotted or treated - which is why the school years are the moment to act.
World Health OrganizationFind your pathway
Where do you come into this?
The same shared confidence to respond, four different starting points. Pick the one that describes you and see what the work looks like from there.
International Schools
You are responsible for a whole community.
- Whole-school Mental Health Literacy programme
- Tiered staff response training: NOTICE, HOLD, LEAD
- Planning that fits your calendar and safeguarding policy
Parents
You want to help at home, not hand it over.
- NOTICE parent workshops in English and German
- Language that keeps the conversation open at home
- What to do when you are worried and unsure
Educators
You are the adult in the room when something surfaces.
- LBR Youth Mental Health Response Certificate
- Hold a first conversation without carrying it alone
- Clear handover routes to the people who take it further
Organisations
You support young people beyond the school gate.
- Training for youth, sports and community organisations
- Wellbeing pulse checks and leadership sessions
- Delivered in English and German, on site or online
What kind of provider we are
We are a school mental health capability partner, not a one-off workshop supplier.
Let's Be Real works with international schools to build lasting internal capability in mental health: a shared language across students, staff and parents, and trained adults who know what to do when a young person is struggling. We are a specialist partner in mental health literacy and Youth Mental Health Response, and we measure our success by what your community can still do after we leave.
Capability, not dependency
The point is what your school can do without us. We train your people, hand over the frameworks and tools, and build a refresh cycle so the capability survives staff turnover.
Specialist, not general
Mental health literacy and Youth Mental Health Response are our only fields. We do not offer unrelated staff training, team building, or generic wellbeing days.
A connected support network
Young people, the adults who teach them, and the adults at home learn the same response steps, so a conversation started in a classroom can continue at home.
Why Let's Be Real
Founded by a family counsellor and a school leader who kept seeing the same gap.
Let's Be Real - Mental Health for Young Minds was founded in 2024 by Jacqueline Klemke and Nick Praulins to give school communities aligned conversations about mental health, and practical strategies to keep them going.
Our mission
Every young person should be surrounded by adults who can recognise what they are going through, hold the conversation, and know where to go next.
Our founders
A life coach, systemic family counsellor and a school leader with over twenty years in international education - two perspectives on the same problem.
Evidence-informed
Our curriculum is independently developed, inspired by Mental Health First Aid, and grounded in WHO adolescent mental health data and peer-reviewed research on literacy and destigmatisation.
What we offer
Understand. Respond. Embed.
We help international schools understand mental health, respond confidently when concerns emerge, and embed the capability to sustain that response. Everything else we do sits beneath one of these three levels.
Level 1 - Understand
Mental Health Literacy
Students + parents + staff
A shared language for mental health across the whole community, so students, parents and staff notice the same things and use the same words.
Explore Mental Health LiteracyLevel 2 - Respond
Youth Mental Health Response
Response architecture: NOTICE - HOLD - LEAD
Our independently developed response training for the roles and realities of international schools, leading to the LBR Youth Mental Health Response Certificate: NOTICE (4 hours), HOLD (1 day) and LEAD (1 day, HOLD first).
Explore Youth Mental Health ResponseLevel 3 - Embed
Whole-School Capability
Audit - strategy - training - implementation
We read how your community is really doing, set priorities with leadership, deliver the training, and stay with you while it becomes normal practice.
Explore Whole-School Capability
Outcomes
Practical Skills for Real Conversations
These four are programme targets, not published results: we agree them with you before we start and then measure them with short pre- and post-programme surveys for students, staff, and parents. Where a claim comes from a published study instead, it is labelled as research and linked to its source.
Confidence
Programme targetAdults feel able to act
Staff and parents report higher confidence in starting a conversation about mental health and staying in it, rather than passing it on straight away.
Measured: self-rated confidence before and after training
Earlier identification
Programme targetConcerns are spotted sooner
Trained staff recognise early signs and raise them through the school's own routes, so support starts before a situation escalates.
Measured: recognition scenarios and referral timing in school records
Help-seeking
Programme targetYoung people ask for support
Students say they are more willing to speak to an adult or a friend, and can name at least two people and one service they would go to.
Measured: help-seeking intention scales, pre and post
Parent-child talk
Programme targetConversations continue at home
Parents report more frequent and less anxious conversations with their children about feelings, stress, and asking for help.
Measured: parent survey at the workshop and eight weeks later
How we label evidence
- Published research
- A finding from a peer-reviewed study or official body, with a link to the source.
- Programme target
- An outcome we agree with you before we start and then measure - not a result we are claiming yet.
- Observed in sessions
- Something we consistently see and hear in sessions, reported as feedback rather than data.
- Measured in our cohorts
- A result from our own pre- and post-programme surveys with a named cohort.
Baseline and follow-up data stay with your school. We report the change, not individual answers.
Trusted by
Trusted by Educators and Families
Our work sits inside school communities across Germany and Europe, in English and German.
International schools
Primary through secondary, working with teaching staff, pastoral teams and leadership.
Parent communities
PTAs and parent associations hosting evening workshops for families across year groups.
Educational organisations
Networks and member organisations, including ECIS, bringing training to their schools.
Trainers certified in Youth MHFA
Our Youth Mental Health Response training is delivered by qualified Youth Mental Health First Aiders. The curriculum itself is independently developed, not MHFA-accredited.
Upcoming workshops
Upcoming Workshops & Training
Open sessions you can book directly. In-school dates for Youth Mental Health Response are scheduled around your calendar.
NOTICE - parent workshop (September)
Language: English
An evening for parents and carers: the signs to notice, the words to start the conversation, and when to seek help.
Book the September NOTICE workshopNOTICE - parent workshop (October)
Language: English
The same session, running throughout the school year. Pick the date that works for your family.
Book the October NOTICE workshopNOTICE - Elternworkshop (November)
Language: German
Our parent workshop in German, for families who would rather have this conversation in their first language.
See all German NOTICE dates
Youth Mental Health Response training
NOTICE (4 hours), HOLD (1 day) and LEAD (1 day, with HOLD as a prerequisite) run on request for schools and organisations, in English or German. Tell us your term dates and we will build the schedule around them.
Next steps
Book a 20-minute discovery call.
No pitch, no obligation. Twenty minutes to hear what your school is dealing with and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.
- 1
Tell us where you are
A few lines about your school, the year groups involved, and what prompted you to get in touch.
- 2
We come back with options
A short reply with the formats that fit your calendar, indicative timings and costs.
- 3
Book a 20-minute discovery call
Pick a slot that works for you. You leave the call with a clear recommendation and next steps in writing.
We reply to every enquiry within two working days, Monday to Friday, 9:00-17:00 CET.