6 Things That Actually Improve Well-being in Schools (and One Thing That Completely Destroys It)
Every school says they care about student well-being. You’ll see it on corridor posters, hear it at assemblies, and find it in policy documents. But when it comes to what actually helps students feel safe, supported, and able to cope, the details get vague.
Spoiler: it’s not another mindfulness colouring sheet.
We’ve looked at the research, listened to students, and gathered what genuinely makes a difference. Here’s what works, what gets in the way, and why this matters more than ever.
Why This Needs More Than Posters
Across Europe, young people are reporting record levels of stress and emotional strain. The 2020–2022 HBSC study (WHO Europe) found that nearly a third of adolescents in EU countries feel “low” more than once a week. In Switzerland, 45% of 15-year-olds reported feeling anxious about schoolwork “often” or “always.” In Germany, national health surveys show rising rates of depressive symptoms in students aged 11 to 17.
It’s not just about school pressure. It’s about always being “on,” navigating identity and friendships, and trying to stay afloat in a world that moves fast and rarely pauses.
Students are not asking for perfection. They’re asking for something real.
1. Talk About Mental Health Like It’s Normal (Because It Is)
When mental health is treated as a special topic for certain weeks or a scripted assembly, it stays boxed in. Students sense that. It feels distant.
What makes the difference is when conversations about mental health become part of everyday school life. Not a big event. Not something saved for a specific lesson. Just something that shows up naturally in how teachers teach, how students learn, and how people treat each other.
For example:
A science teacher explaining how stress affects the nervous system as part of a biology lesson
A literature class discussing how a character handles grief; not just what happens next in the story
A tutor asking how everyone’s feeling at the start of the day, not just reminding them what’s due
A maths teacher leading a short breathing pause before a test
A drama group reflecting not just on their performance, but on the emotions the characters carried
A librarian creating a calm corner for students to reset between classes
These are not big interventions. But they send a message: it’s okay to feel things, and it’s safe to talk about them here.
Schools that treat emotional health as an everyday topic see better outcomes. According to the EU Kids Online research, open communication in schools is a key protective factor for adolescent well-being. It’s not about fixing everything. It’s about being willing to name the things that matter.
Studies show that when schools normalise mental health conversations and make them part of everyday learning, students are less afraid to ask for help and more likely to support each other (Patalay & Fitzsimons, 2018).
2. Support That Feels Safe
Many schools offer mental health services, but if students do not trust them (or don’t know how to access them) they won’t use them.
Support has to feel real, friendly, and designed with students in mind.
Anonymous referral options or digital check-ins
Student-friendly posters that actually explain how to get help
Adults in the school who are known to be safe listeners
In a recent review of school-based mental health programmes in the EU (Weare & Nind, 2011), uptake was highest in schools where services were visible, flexible, and embedded in everyday routines. Trust is not built by having support. It’s built by how you offer it.
3. Create Space To Switch Off
Across much of Europe, students are spending over 5 hours a day online outside of school, and often that time is filled with comparison, messaging pressure, and overstimulation. It’s not just screen time. It’s social noise.
Creating quiet spaces at school can make a huge difference.
No-phone areas during breaks or lunch
Calm rooms for emotional reset
Offline clubs that focus on presence, not performance
Research from the University of Amsterdam shows that digital detox environments in schools support better emotional regulation and improved concentration. Sometimes students don’t need more input. They need less.
4. One Trusted Adult Can Change Everything
Ask any young person what helped them through a tough time at school, and they’ll usually name one person… a teacher, librarian, coach, or assistant who really listened. It wasn’t necessarily someone with all the answers. Just someone who cared enough to ask how they were, and meant it. It was someone who held space form them and made them feel safe.
Having just one trusted adult in school drastically lowers the risk of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts in teens (CDC YRBS, 2021).
5. Support a System That Values More Than Just Grades
This one’s huge. When students feel like their entire self-worth hinges on exam scores, mental health suffers. Full stop.
Schools that balance academic learning with creativity, life skills, and space to be human see better outcomes, emotionally and academically. In the Netherlands, where teenagers consistently report some of the highest life satisfaction in Europe, the education system places strong emphasis on student voice, school-life balance, and personal development, not just test results.
Finland, known for its holistic approach to education, emphasises equity and student well-being. Finnish students have reported feeling relatively safer than students in other OECD countries, and they exhibit a more positive and confident attitude towards independent study.
Plus, schools that embed social-emotional learning, the arts, and practical skills into the curriculum don’t just support well-being; they boost engagement and long-term academic success too.
6. Let Students Lead the Way
Students don’t just want to be helped; they want to help each other. Schools that create space for peer mentoring, student-led wellbeing projects, and mental health ambassadors build a culture of connection and empathy.
And honestly? Students often do a better job at reaching their peers than adults ever could.
Peer-led programs improve connection, belonging, and emotional confidence across the board, especially when backed by staff support (King et al., 2006).
And the One Thing That Completely Destroys It…?
If you really want to tank student (and staff) well-being, act like it’s not a priority. Treat positive mental health as a “nice to have” instead of recognising it as the foundation for learning, connection, and growth. Well-being > performance.
It’s when schools:
Say “We don’t have time for this right now”
Treat well-being as a box to tick
Put up a poster in the hallway and call it a strategy
Don’t have clear policies and procedures related to student (and staff) well-being
Offer one week of activities and nothing more
Ignoring the issue doesn’t make it go away; it makes it worse. It tells staff and students their feelings are inconvenient. That school is a place for performance, not vulnerability, connection, and growth.
The Bottom Line
The good news is that you don’t need a glossy new programme to make a really big impact. But you need a culture that pays attention. One that sees students as full human beings, not just learners or grades.
If you want to start somewhere, start here:
Make help easy to find and easy to ask for
Give students one tech-free place to breathe
Help staff feel seen and supported too
Ask students what they need… and listen!
Embed emotional learning across subjects, not as a side note
This is not about adding pressure. It’s about removing the barriers that stop students from being well enough to learn and live.
Start there.
If you’re interested in improving the well-being of your school community, we’d love to chat! Drop us an email at hello@letsbe-real.eu.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm
Children’s Commissioner for England. (2020). The state of children’s mental health services 2020/21. https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/report/the-state-of-childrens-mental-health-services-2020-21/
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta‐analysis of school‐based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
King, A. J. C., Vidourek, R. A., Davis, B., & McClellan, W. (2006). Increasing self-esteem and school connectedness through a multidimensional mentoring program. Journal of Adolescence, 29(6), 819–833. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025406072781
Limburg, K., Watson, H. J., Hagger, M. S., & Egan, S. J. (2017). The relationship between perfectionism and psychopathology: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 54, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2016.10.005
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2022). PISA 2022 results: Student life satisfaction and well-being data explorer. https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=FIN&topic=PI&treshold=10
Patalay, P., & Fitzsimons, E. (2018). Mental ill-health among children of the new century: Trends across childhood with a focus on age 14. Centre for Longitudinal Studies, University College London. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-018-9879-1
The Guardian. (2024, September 17). Why Dutch children are the happiest in Europe — and what the UK can learn. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/17/british-children-europe-dutch-childhood-netherlands
Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2018). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study. Preventive Medicine Reports, 12, 271–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.10.003
Weare, K., & Nind, M. (2011). Mental health promotion and problem prevention in schools: What does the evidence say? Health Promotion International, 26(S1), i29–i69. https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/13757/1/DFE-RR177.pdf
