Mental Health and Well-being Deep Dive Workshop

Date: 2–3 October 2025
Time: 09:00–17:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST)
Location: International School of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Preventing & Responding to Suicide & Self Harm; A Whole School Approach 

Feel prepared and empowered to strengthen 
your school’s mental health culture

You’ll leave this workshop feeling equipped and confident to contribute to a supportive mental health culture, reduce the risk of suicide in your community, and lead your school through a mental health crisis.
 

 

What you can expect to learn:

• what a whole-school approach to mental health and well-being looks like 
• how to develop, lead, and implement a whole-school approach in your school’s unique context
• the prevalence and risks associated with self-harm, suicidal ideation, and a completed suicide in your school community
• practical strategies for early identification, prevention, and management of self-harming behaviours
• leading practice for a school response to suicide and how to support staff after an attempted or completed suicide
• how to share, disseminate, and act upon what you learn when you return to school
• skills that empower you to participate fully as a member of your school’s well-being and response teams

 

How you will learn:

• from evidence-based materials delivered by multi-disciplinary experts, including a clinical psychologist, a counselling psychologist, experienced school leaders, and safeguarding professionals 
• with resources and guidance to adapt to your school context
• a schedule that allows plenty of time for personal and group Q&A with experts and CIS staff

On Day 1, all participants will learn together, we’ll focus on prevention strategies and developing a whole school approach to mental health and well-being.   

On Day 2, we’ll adopt a two-strand, activity-based approach looking at leadership in crisis and first responders to suicidal ideation, and a completed suicide. 

• Strand A: Leadership—Join this strand to learn the knowledge and skills you will need to be part of a leadership team when leading a school through a crisis. This strand is aimed at anyone in a senior, middle, section, or boarding leadership position.
• Strand B: First responders—Understand how to respond to self-harm, suicidal ideation, and a completed suicide in a school community. This strand is aimed at anyone in a position that works directly with young people. This might include teachers, counsellors, boarding parents, nurses, and school psychologists.

 

Why learn about this with CIS?

Planning a response to an attempted or completed suicide is daunting for any institution. This workshop will help your school be prepared for such a high-stakes event via workshop content that:

• is culturally sensitive and contextualized to take account of the diversity of our international school community
• draws on research and practice guidance from multi-disciplinary expertise including a clinical psychologist, counselling psychologist, experienced school leaders, and safeguarding professionals
• encourages participants to embrace the networking aspect of the course as they learn with peers, counsellors, educators, and school leaders from other international schools.

We are proud to work on this workshop with the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, which has developed and delivered mental health care for over 70 years.