Maudsley Education Consultation Service (MECS)
The Maudsley Education Consultation Service (MECS) is a London-based team of researchers from King’s College London and mental health professionals from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, working together in the King’s Maudsley Partnership to address the rise in mental health and wellbeing needs in children and young people.
The challenge
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been an increase in mental health and wellbeing difficulties in children and young people, many of whom struggle to get support due to limited provision and barriers in accessing clinical care. And while schools are expected to support their students, they often lack the training and resources to do so.
Our approach
We aim to give schools the knowledge and tools they need for a whole-school approach. This brings together students, parents, and teachers. Together, they can better understand and respond to the mental health and wellbeing needs of young people.
We work with school communities and use data to see what support they need. We treat young people as equal partners and make sure their voices help shape the solutions.
The perspectives of the communities we work with are central to everything we do. When we can, we partner with local organisations to make lasting, meaningful change.
What we’re working on
Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) in Croydon
Persistent school absence (defined as missing at least 10% of school sessions) has almost doubled between 2018 and 2025, making it an increasingly significant and urgent problem in the UK. Persistent absences can be linked to emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA), whereby children miss school due to anxiety.
Our project, in partnership with Harris Federation schools in Croydon, and with funding from the Maudsley Charity’s Building Brighter Futures fund, supports young people and families experiencing or at risk of experiencing EBSA particularly during transition to secondary school. transition to secondary school.
We work with the school community to improve school attendance by identifying students and families experiencing (or at risk of) EBSA and helping them to attend school through targeted support and improvements to the school environment.
Our four focus areas are:
- Identify students and families experiencing (or at risk of) EBSA as they transition from primary to secondary school, using the myJournE online survey.
- Reduce EBSA in secondary school by adapting the Intervention for School Anxiety and Absenteeism in Children (ISAAC), which will be delivered to students with persistent absence and mental health difficulties, as well as their parents, in the summer between the Year 6 and Year 7 transition.
- Train attendance-mentoring staff in secondary school to support students and their families with school and mental health-related concerns.
- Help to foster a better school environment and support attendance for anxious and neurodiverse students, based on the principles of the RE-STAR programme.
MECS School Resilience Project
The SRP helps schools identify and address student mental health and wellbeing needs through a combination of surveys and community-led focus groups to shape tailored interventions and improve the support available to students.
School Mental Health Innovation Network
The School Mental Health Innovation Network will be designed to use annual school-based surveys across South London so that mental health resources and support reach the students and schools that need them most.