Raising Voices Guide Released

Raising Voices has published a school mental health guide built for classroom use, with activities and discussion prompts for teachers and learners. (raisingvoices.org) The Uganda-based organization says the guide is meant to help schools address day-to-day mental health problems affecting both students and teachers. It says the resource can also be shared with caregivers and school communities. (raisingvoices.org) The guide is not framed as a manual for treating clinical mental illness. Raising Voices says it focuses instead on basic skills, common problems, and signs that should prompt teachers or caregivers to seek medical support for severe cases. (raisingvoices.org) Raising Voices developed the guide as an add-on to its Good School Toolkit, a schoolwide program aimed at preventing violence against children and improving relationships among teachers, learners, and surrounding communities. (raisingvoices.org) That link between school climate and mental health sits at the center of the project. In a 2025 Knowledge Builder brief, Raising Voices said mental health priorities were becoming more urgent because of the overlap between violence and mental wellbeing in schools. (raisingvoices.org) The organization says it finalized the mental health guide in 2023 and then piloted it in four Ugandan schools. Its 2025 summary says the test looked at acceptability, understanding, relevance, feasibility, and signs of change. (raisingvoices.org; raisingvoices.org) According to that pilot summary, the guide includes school activities, discussion guides, and child-friendly materials such as booklets and posters. Raising Voices says the sessions are school-led and carried out by teachers and student protagonists. (raisingvoices.org) The six core sessions move from defining mental health to identifying school-based challenges, practicing self-care, supporting struggling learners and teachers, creating supportive spaces, and planning next steps. Raising Voices lists meditation, journaling, and help-seeking among the basic skills it wants schools to teach. (raisingvoices.org) The release lands as youth mental health remains a global concern. The World Health Organization says one in seven adolescents aged 10 to 19 experiences a mental disorder worldwide. (who.int) Raising Voices is now presenting the guide as something educators can use directly, not just as a research output. That puts a classroom-ready mental health resource into wider circulation after the organization’s pilot phase. (x.com; raisingvoices.org)