The SHINE team was delighted to host the 4th SHINE National Network Conference in person at the new Clarice Pears Building on Tues 16th May 2023. The theme was ‘From evidence to action: a whole-school approach to improving young people’s mental health and wellbeing’.

Around 90 teachers, researchers and education policy professionals attended to hear Professor Margaret Barry (Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion Research at the University of Galway) present on implementing effective interventions for promoting young people’s mental health and wellbeing in schools. From the SHINE team, Judith Mabelis launched the SHINE mental health survey national dataset, Mary Wilson provided a research perspective on using personal identifiers in health and wellbeing surveys for young people; while Dawn Haughton led an interactive session on teacher wellbeing in Scotland. Network members heard from schools and local authorities who have used the SHINE mental health survey, with case studies demonstrating how the survey data report has informed improvement planning and interventions in their settings. Delegates also had the opportunity to hear about the latest research on tackling gender-based violence, new methods to measure sleep in 8-18yrs and the social impact for young people of having, or not having, a behavioural diagnosis. The day was rounded off with an opportunity to hear about the academic evaluation by Cardiff University of the Winning Scotland Mindset intervention for primary schools, providing insight into the benefits of using evaluated interventions to support improvements in young people’s mental health and wellbeing.