myHappymind

The challenge

The UK faces a significant and escalating challenge with children and young people’s mental health. In 2022, 18% of children aged 7 to 16 years and 22% of young people aged 17 to 24 years had a probable mental disorder. In the last 3 years, in likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%, and of the young people experiencing mental health problems, 75% of them are not receiving the help that they need.

Despite more investment in NHS services, the pandemic has led to even greater need, leaving services overstretched. For example, fewer than 40% of those under the age of 17 with a mental health condition can access NHS support. CAMHS are overwhelmed and cannot meet demand and so issues are escalating to a devastating effect. myHappymind is a mental health solution which prevents children from getting to the stage where they need specialist support, reducing the demand for services like CAMHS and saving the NHS money.

In addition, the NHS is facing a workforce crisis, particularly when it comes to mental health. myHappymind is delivered by teachers in schools and so removes the need for mental health specialists to be drawn upon. myHappymind enables schools to deliver their own preventative and early help service without further burdening external services such as Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) and CAMHS and at the same time reduces the number of children who will need NHS support in the future.

The solution

To impact the long-term mental health of our young people, we need to ensure that we’re implementing preventative solutions alongside reactive ones. myHappymind exists to do just that, aligning perfectly with the three key shifts in healthcare outlined in the Darzi Report and forming the basis of the NHS’s long-term plan.

Delivered in education settings ranging from Nurseries, Primary and Secondary Schools, as well as Special Schools and Alternative Provisions, myHappymind is designed specifically to meet the needs of all learners within a school, including neurodivergent pupils, and proactively equip children and young people with the knowledge and skills to thrive. myHappymind empowers educators to better support the needs of their pupils without relying on external services such as CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and MHSTs (Mental Health Support Teams), while also reducing exclusions, improving attendance, and supporting Emotion-Based School Avoidance. myHappymind supports over 2,000 schools nationwide and is commissioned by organisations such as the NHS, Local Authorities, Public Health, and more, in over 40 places.

It is innovative for several reasons:

• myHappymind is a truly preventative intervention delivered to all children in a school, as opposed to most interventions, which are reserved for children at the point of need. It prevents children from reaching the stage where they need specialist support from CAMHS and other services.
• myHappymind addresses the workforce crisis. Teachers use our fully prepared programme, staff have access to a CPD-certified digital well-being programme, and parents have access to a state-of-the-art app, allowing them to support their child’s journey too. There is never a need to involve a specialist.
• MyHappymind’s delivery in schools benefits specialist services such as CAMHS and MHSTs. Their workload is reduced, allowing them to focus on the high-priority cases. Furthermore, it saves the NHS money by reducing the number of referrals.
• myHappymind is delivered via an innovative digital platform, making adoption fast, scalable, and sustainable while contributing to the net-zero agenda.
• myHappymind can form part of the Whole School Approach element of MHSTs, helping them scale more rapidly and significantly contributing to reaching the target of having MHST support in every school by 2029/30.

The impact

• myHappymind reduces CAMHS referrals by up to 43%.
• myHappymind reduced fixed-term exclusions by over 60%.
• myHappymind reduces the demand on SENCo time by 67% (SENCo is a dedicated role in the school focused on supporting children with emotional needs).

Further studies have further demonstrated myHappymind’s impact in reducing referrals to external services, as well as improving outcomes around attendance and behaviour within schools, resulting in significant returns on investment for those commissioning myHappymind.

In a 2025 study with 135 schools, it was found that myHappymind had resulted in preventing 1,504 referrals to CAMHS, 2,522 MHST referrals and 5,531 referrals to school SENCos. Alongside this, it demonstrated that myHappymind improved the attendance of 8,769 pupils, prevented 1,411 suspensions and helped to resolve 2,024 safeguarding incidents. All of which resulted in significant cost avoidance, amounting to 46x the initial investment.