Better mental health for young people
BrainWaves offers evidence-based resources for secondary schools and teachers – including a curriculum of free wellbeing lessons from KS3-5, free monthly webinars and a ground-breaking conference to support teacher professional development on mental wellbeing.
BrainWaves Living Well Conference 2026
SHIFTING THE CURVE ON ADOLESCENT MENTAL WELLBEING
Hosted by BrainWaves in association with the University of Oxford, this unique one-day conference on Monday 6th July 2026 translates cutting-edge research about adolescent wellbeing and mental health into actionable insights for school leaders and teachers.
- A rare opportunity to engage directly with world-leading academics and scientists.
- Learn about the latest research, data and trends that could influence mental health in your school.
- Key topics addressed: anxiety, self-harm, attendance, neurodiversity, social media, inequalities
- Keynote interview with the DfE’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Prof Michael Thomas
Book your Early Bird Tickets!
Visit our website to see the full line-up of speakers and book your Early Bird tickets now – offer ends 30th April 2026!
Inform. Engage. Empower.
The philosophy behind the BrainWaves education programme is simple: combine the latest research and academic thinking around mental health to provide lessons for students that are evidence-based, engaging and empowering.
The result? A whole programme of mental health lessons and teacher resources across Key Stages 3-5 based on the best available evidence in terms of brain science and pedagogy. Endorsed by both the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Education at Oxford University, the lessons support the development of critical thinking skills, media literacy and self-awareness.
Featured lessons
The BrainWaves wellbeing curriculum now has 25 lessons available for students aged 11-18 years.
Visit our lessons page to find out more…
Our partners
BrainWaves is a collaborative project, led by researchers at the University of Oxford
in partnership with The Day, an online daily newspaper for young people,
and the informatics team at the University of Swansea.
Making things better…
Each BrainWaves lesson contains practical, positive strategies to empower young people to improve and maintain their mental health and wellbeing. At the end of each lesson, students are challenged to ‘try one thing’ by implementing at least one new strategy they have learnt about. The impact of those strategies is then revisited in subsequent lessons.
Knowing what works…
The BrainWaves lessons are based on the latest research, evidence and data. They have been trialled and tested with secondary schools across the country and approved by researchers at the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Education at the University of Oxford.
Learning what to trust…
How do students know what information about mental health is safe to trust? The BrainWaves lessons are designed to promote critical thinking skills. They challenge students to think about sources, data and evidence and to identify what information is reliable. In this way, students are empowered to make better decisions about the masses of information they encounter online.
Help and support
Teaching about mental health can be a daunting task. To help support teachers, BrainWaves have developed a comprehensive array of resources around teaching each lesson and supporting young people. Click below to find out more…