4 Stigma-free curriculum design

Watch the first two minutes of the following video entitled ‘Education for Mental Health’; feel free to watch the rest if you have more time. Consider how the curriculum, and those who deliver it in your setting, could potentially be impacting on the wellbeing and mental health of learners. Stigma is not specifically mentioned here, but there is emphasis on the importance of a sense of belonging to wellbeing; stigma can create a significant barrier leading to a damaging sense of isolation in place of belonging.

This video clip can help you reflect on the impact of mental health in terms of the curriculum. You may have noted the following points:

• Thinking about curriculum and mental health doesn’t mean lowering standards or ‘making things easier’.
• When learners are properly prepared for academic challenges, this can be conducive to wellbeing. This is enhanced when learners find their learning meaningful and engaging; to be so, the learning needs to be stigma-free.
• Staff development can help challenge incorrect assumptions about these issues. This can include being confident to challenge stigmatising beliefs, behaviours and learning materials.