The CHSS team carried out an evaluability assessment of a school-based mental health promotion intervention known as the ‘Fantastic Fred Experience’. The intervention was developed as part of the Kent Local Transformation Plan for Children, Young People and Young Adults’ Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health. Delivered in primary schools, it uses an interactive performance format to demonstrate mental health promoting behaviours across four domains: Food, Rest, Exercise and Digital Devices (‘FRED’). The Fantastic Fred Experience and a provisional logic model was developed in collaboration with professionals from clinical psychology, general practice, educational psychology, commissioning and information and from health, education and university sectors. Implementation began in May 2019 and there are plans to deliver it to half of Kent primary school children between 2019 and 2021, as part of a wider mental health promotion programme (‘Good Mental Health Matters’) for all young people.

The evaluability assessment will inform strategic decisions about whether and how to evaluate the intervention, with a view to potential long-term investment and wider dissemination.

Start date: 8 May 2019; End Date: 8 August 2019
Funder: West Kent CCG
Funding: £11,831