Large Scale Melva Commissions

Our work with Local Authorities and other commissioners to put Melva into the lives of those who need it most.

A child playing the Melva game on a laptop
Working with local authorities, business sponsors, and other commissioners enables us to reach more children than we could ever achieve by ourselves.
Help us achieve more!

What difference can a large-scale Melva Commission make?

There is a children’s wellbeing crisis in the UK, with Public Health England stating that at least 1 in 5 children aged 7-16 have a diagnosable mental health condition. That’s an average of 6 children per classroom. 

We urgently need new, accessible, multi-agency approaches to tackling this crisis. Working with local authorities, business sponsors, and other commissioners enables us to provide this essential resource to more schools and children than we could ever achieve by ourselves.

MELVA is a proven, fun, and impactful way for teachers to work with whole classes, addressing wellbeing issues before children reach crisis point and reducing referrals to over-stretched statutory services. It is facilitated through creative and practical activities, with an emphasis on learning by doing, and the resources and evaluation tools are rooted in ratified and recognised wellbeing research, such as the PERMATM framework and the NHS 5 steps to wellbeing.

How a commissioner relationship can work:

This is an example of how we worked with the North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) to make the Melva programme available to over 3,000 children in Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside for free:

  • NTCA awarded us £32,000 (following a procurement process)
  • This covered the cost of approximately 50 Melva licences
  • Schools in the relevant local authority were invited to apply for one of these funded licences via a simple expression of interest form
  • NTCA supported with school recruitment by sharing the funding offer in their networks, and we worked together on a local press release
  • The Melva Team managed the sign up process for schools from start to finish – reviewing their expression of interest forms, making the licence offer, and getting them signed up to the relevant training events and digital sessions
  • Each school received access to the full Melva programme for free until the end of that academic year
  • At the end of the academic year, we provided NTCA with a simple summary report highlighting the impact this funding had

Scroll down to see what this funding helped us achieve…

View the full report here

What we achieved through this commission:

Over 3,000

individual children participating in Melva within the North of Tyne Area

Over 850

sessions delivered in school

Over 50

teachers taking part in CPD

70% increase

in our school reach compared to the previous academic year

Feedback on key successes

Student and Teacher Development:

“The ‘comfort zones’ theory that we covered in the in-person CPD day has been a key piece of learning that we’ll be adopting as a whole school and building it into our health and wellbeing work next year.”
Teacher Development
“The word I used to the staff when I returned was ‘transformational’. The best training I have received in years. I have already started using [techniques we learnt] and have noticed a positive response from the children I teach.”
Teacher Development
“The programme is fun, so it’s taken away the fear of dealing with these topics. It’s empowered staff to deal with difficult subjects and know that they are doing it right. The connection between the stories, the science, and the strategies has worked really well, meaning that the programme itself offers CPD for the staff, because it is so informative in an accessible way.”
Teacher Development
“The discussions and the awareness we have been having are brilliant. The children love it and the staff feel skilled to deliver the sessions well.”
Student Development
“The children have got a lot out of following Melva. I have seen children become more confident, contributing and within themselves and I hope that it will give them tools that they can remember as they go through their lives.”
Student Development
“Children who wouldn’t normally speak about their fears and emotions have had the confidence to overcome this by listening to others.”
Student Development
“I’ve learnt about handling my emotions by doing the body tap and about helping other people when they are struggling.”
Student Development

Proving Our Impact Through Evaluation Data

Our increased school reach led to an increase in evaluation data received; all of which demonstrated a clear and evidenced improvement in children’s knowledge and understanding of mental health and wellbeing topics and self-management strategies.

Pre and Post Assessments:

Students completed a short assessment activity before and after taking part in the Melva programme. Teachers then rated their responses across two main criteria, from 1-6 (1 being very poor, 6 being very strong):

  • Criteria A: Depth and breadth of their understanding of mental health and wellbeing topics
  • Criteria B: Depth and breadth of their knowledge of practical tools and techniques to manage and maintain their mental health and wellbeing

At the end of the programme, the average improvement across all schools (based on sample data from approx 10% of our user base), was between 90-100%

  • Criteria A: 2.65 increased to 5.14 (+94%)
  • Criteria B: 2.59 increased to 4.96 (+99%)

End of Session Feedback:

At the end of each session, teachers and students are asked to complete two simple forms which help us to:

  • a. gather feedback about that session, and
    b. rate the levels of wellbeing present during the Melva sessions using a framework called PERMATM

The PERMATM framework is a model developed by Dr Martin Seligman and the studies in Positive Psychology to represent the presence of wellbeing. PERMATM is an acronym of five building blocks for wellbeing: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement. By tracking and rating the presence of these building blocks throughout the sessions, we can demonstrate that taking part in Melva is providing a positive experience for the young people taking part.

Data received from 25 schools (approx 50% of user base) shows us, on average, in what percentage of sessions each PERMATM building block was rated highly (at least 4 out of 5).

Sample of Evaluation Data

Interested in helping us making Melva available at scale in your area?

Email the Melva Team today at melva@mortalfools.org.uk to arrange a meeting and find out more.

Get in touch