At North Liverpool Academy, we are committed to promoting and supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our entire school community. We provide students with education and guidance on a range of issues that can affect mental health, while helping them to develop effective strategies to support both themselves and others.
Our whole-school approach to mental health ensures we make full use of the expertise within our school, while also working closely with external agencies and specialist services so students and families can access specialist advice and support when required.
School Bronze Mental Health Award
In April 2026, North Liverpool Academy was proud to receive the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools Bronze Award, supported by Leeds Beckett University. This award recognises schools that have established a high-quality, whole-school strategy for mental health and wellbeing, benefiting pupils, staff, and the wider community.
Read more about this award
Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools Award
The Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools Award, delivered by Leeds Beckett University, is a prestigious national framework that assesses and celebrates a school’s commitment to the mental health and wellbeing of its entire community.
Rather than just focusing on reactive support, this award evaluates how effectively an institution embeds a positive, proactive culture of mental fitness across all areas of school life, including pupils, staff, and families.
By aligning our pastoral care with this rigorous framework, we ensure our provision meets the highest national standards. The award focusses on key areas such as:
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Leadership and Strategy: Ensuring mental health and wellbeing are at the heart of school policies and long-term planning.
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Support for Pupils: Providing robust early intervention, reducing stigma, and equipping young people with the resilience to navigate the modern world.
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Staff Wellbeing and Training: Empowering our team with world-class training to spot the signs of mental health challenges and offer professional, compassionate guidance.
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Working with Parents and Carers: Strengthening our partnership with families and external healthcare professionals to create a unified support network.
Achieving and maintaining this standard demonstrates our ongoing dedication to creating a safe, happy, and inclusive environment where emotional wellbeing is valued just as highly as academic success.
School-Based Support
Students can be referred to a variety of support services within school, including:
- Full-time School Counsellor – Anna Edwards
- YPAS Link Worker
- Behaviour Mentors
- Wellbeing Support
- Bereavement Support
- ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)
We work in partnership with several external organisations to support students’ mental health and wellbeing, including:
Student Support
Useful websites
Anxiety
Anger management
Body image
Exam stress
Gender identity
Grief
Self-Harm
Other
Parent Support
Useful websites
Anxiety
Bereavement support
Eating disorders
Gender and Identity
Grief
Helping your child to cope with mental health
Mental health services for young people
Suicide support and guidance
- Reach Out Liverpool Suicide
- Zero Suicide Alliance training, 20-minute suicide awareness training.
Self-harm
Peer Mentoring Programmes
The Mentors in Violence Prevention Programme
Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) is a peer-led, bystander intervention programme that trains year 10 students to become mentors and leaders for younger students. Empowering them to challenge gender-based violence, bullying, and abusive behaviours. Using scenarios and discussions, MVP provides young people with the tools and confidence to address harmful social norms and promotes a whole-school approach to creating a safer environment. This programme has been running at the NLA for the past 5 years. The training is provided by Merseyside Youth Association through the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership. MVP equips students with life skills that help shape them into active citizens. Students use the experience for CV’s, job, college and university applications as it is a nationally recognised programme. We started with our first cohort in 2021, and the numbers continue to grow each year.
TOTEM peer mentor programme
Peer mentors are selected by year leaders and all take part in a training programme called TOTEM (talking openly to embrace mental health) provided by Merseyside Youth Association. They act as buddies to new students, conduct 1-1’s with students under supervision and lead topical sessions with younger year groups. We have over eighty peer mentors from Year 8, 9, 10 and 11. This information is signposted through form teachers, posters, and assemblies. All peer mentors wear a green badge so they can be identified by staff and students.