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Updated:
May 12, 2023
Written By:
Liz Robson
The Wellbeing Ambassadors programme is a vital resource for young people. By providing information and resources to help promote positive mental health, the programme can play a significant role in reducing the risk of mental health problems developing.
The Wellbeing Ambassadors programme is a great way to promote positive mental health and wellbeing within your school community, and it's also a great way to get young people involved in supporting each other.
The programme is designed to be delivered by people who are passionate about helping young people to lead healthy, happy lives. If you are one of these people, then you may be wondering where to start.
This guide will provide you with all the information you need to get started as a new Wellbeing Ambassador Programme Facilitator.
The Wellbeing Ambassadors programme is an online training course and resource toolkit that is part of the support and training available inside our Wellbeing Academy.
The Wellbeing Ambassadors programme is a great way to help keep young people emotionally healthy and reduce the risk of mental health problems. The programme provides information and support for young people to learn about and look after their mental health and support their peers to improve wellbeing.
The programme trains young people as Wellbeing Ambassadors, so that they can develop their coaching skills and support their peers within their school or other educational settings.
When you become a facilitator you learn how to deliver this programme yourself to the young people you work with.
You will learn how to deliver
"I liked all the research-based content but made really accessible to me, the fact that there's a train the trainer programme and then when we looked at the resources I just felt like the students are going to respond brilliantly to this it's going to be such a brilliant day and way to get them thinking about wellbeing"
Dominique Jones Dame Alice Owens School
Our Wellbeing Ambassadors programme for practitioners is a digital train-the-trainer toolkit. With three years of access to our complete programme delivery resource toolkit, for two staff members you will be able to train cohorts of young people to become wellbeing ambassadors year after year.
Plus, our online support will ensure you have everything you need to deliver the training workshop and run the programme successfully.
Within the Wellbeing Ambassadors online programme, you’ll find everything you need to deliver the programme within your school or setting:
Our original wellbeing Ambassadors programme is very popular, with 1000’s of young people benefiting from the intervention in secondary schools and settings across the UK and beyond.
The original programme is designed for young people usually between the ages of 12-18. With the growing need for schools to provide pupil voice-led early prevention, we spent the end of 2022 working with schools to develop an age-appropriate and differentiated version for children aged 5-11.
The primary version of the programme trains children as Wellbeing Ambassadors, so that they can develop their wellbeing skills and support their peers within their school or other educational setting.
When you become a facilitator you learn how to deliver this programme yourself to the children you work with.
You will learn how to deliver
For more information about the Wellbeing Ambassadors programme for primary schools click here.
The specialist support version of the programme includes everything that is available in the practitioner programme (primary or secondary versions), in addition to this we deliver onsite or online delivery of the training workshop with your ambassadors in the first year. The workshop is delivered by one of our qualified positive psychology coaches and consultants (the specialists), who will work with you in the first year to help you learn about the programme and gain confidence in delivering it.
This means that you will have everything you need to deliver the wellbeing ambassadors programme successfully, so that in years two and three you can continue to deliver the programme using the online materials. And, your wellbeing ambassadors receive expert training from our amazing specialists in order to deliver the programme directly to you and your young people.
A member of our team will come to your school or setting (or online) provide a one-day workshop that lasts for a school day or five hours, and can be fitted into your timetable and requirements. You will be allocated one of our specialist consultants who will liaise directly with the team leader to discuss the logistics and practicalities and come to the school or setting to work with the facilitator. This ensures that the programme is both effective and enjoyable for everyone involved.
It is important that one of the facilitators who will be supporting the pupils on an ongoing basis are available to work with our specialists and be part of the delivery experience as they will be responsible for providing ongoing support and encouragement to your settings team of ambassadors.
Wellbeing Ambassadors is a licensed programme a school or setting subscribes to. Your setting will have access for three years from the time your log-in details are sent to you via email. Your school will identify a team leader, usually a named member of staff in charge of overseeing the programme and ensuring its success.
The log-in details are sent to the team leader on receipt of payment. You will not be able to access the programme until we have received payment either by card or invoice payment.
The team leader will be able to allocate two facilitator licences. These can be transferred to any other staff members at your school or setting with just a few clicks. That way, even if your original facilitator moves on, someone else can easily take over the programme and continue supporting the wellbeing of your students.
Your membership year starts from the day the log-in is sent, not the day you first log-in, as this can be days or even weeks later. To get the most out of the Wellbeing Ambassadors programme for the maximum time we recommend, if you can, to get started as soon as you receive your login access. a real difference in your school or setting.
The programme licence is for the school or setting not the facilitators, if any facilitators leave their roles they will be unable to login and gain access, but of course their new school or setting can also join the programme.
After you first online programme, we recommend watching the training course modules – a short CPD session – and familiarising yourself with the facilitator’s manual. In these we talk you through, the background theory and evidence for a peer led approach to wellbeing, and how the practical workshop you deliver to the young people might work in your setting. You will be able to download the slides and the instructor manual. You will be able to access everything you’ll need to deliver the programme as a licenced facilitator.
The next step will be to recruit your team, your Wellbeing Ambassadors! How you might do this depends on the needs of your school or setting. For example, some schools have chosen mixed year groups as their Ambassadors. (link to leading WBA content)
Assuming a new role can be daunting, especially when it comes to wellbeing facilitation. But don't worry - our programme resources are practical and helpful, and will give you everything you need to get started. The timeline below provides an example of what to expect in your new role as Facilitator.
You will be able to identify who the right young people are to be your ambassadors. And understand how to promote your programme to ensure you make the programme a long-term success.
You’ll have accessed the online training and materials and trained your team ambassadors. You will have developed an action plan with the ambassadors and made a start on helping them make a big impact on the wellbeing of their peers.
You’ll be supporting your wellbeing ambassadors to lead their peer wellbeing interventions, these may be lunchtime drop-in groups, assemblies, campaigns and peer-to-peer support sessions.
You will even be starting to see the impact on these from the feedback young people are giving you
As a facilitator, it's important to know that you have ongoing support available to you. Programme leads provide hotline drop-in calls every half term, and there is also an online facebook community where you can get peer support, seek advice from other facilitators or ask questions about the programme. Knowing that there is always someone there to support you will help you feel more confident in your role as a facilitator.
The programme will also provide you with opportunities to feedback on your experiences, so that we can continue to improve it. You will also have the chance to show the difference you and your ambassadors have made in your school through sharing your experience as a spotlight school.
The programme is run over three years in order to provide schools or settings with the time they need to develop into confident, competent facilitators of targeted peer support.
Three year access provides schools and settings with the opportunity to truly develop an effective peer to peer support intervention over time, so it becomes truly embedded in your setting and an integral part of targeted support for mental health.
As your programme evolves you can train up several cohorts of students to become ambassadors. These ambassadors then can support you to recruit and train cohorts of peers in order to embed a culture of wellbeing across the school. You can run the ambassadors programme as many times as you like to as many students as you like as long as you retain your licence.
The aim of the programme is to create a generation of wellbeing ambassadors who are able to support their peers and promote positive mental health throughout the school community even if some of your first cohort of ambassadors leave during the three year period.
You will automatically switch to annual renewal so your school or setting can still use the programme and resources on an annual basis. Toward the end of your three-year's access, we will get in touch with a renewal notification.
You will then be invoiced for another at an annual renewal rate, using the finance and information you provided when you first joined.
There is no obligation for your school or setting to retain your licence but we would love it if you did, so we can support you to continue to provide targeted peer support, peer mentoring and young person-led wellbeing interventions.
If you no longer want to use the Wellbeing Ambassadors programme just let us know before the renewal date and we will stop your access to the programme. You and the other facilitators will no longer be able to access the programme or use the programme materials in your school or setting.
Remember as a facilitator you get ongoing support for three years so don't hesitate to reach out if you need any help - we're here for you. Together, we can make a difference for the wellbeing of all. Thanks for being part of this crucial work!
Not already joined the Wellbeing Ambassadors Programme, find out more here? Are you interested in learning more about the impact of the ambassador programme? Find out more by downloading our FREE impact report.
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