The annual event at South Lanarkshire Council Headquarters in Hamilton was hosted, organised and run by secondary school pupils from across South Lanarkshire.

The Wellbeing Warriors are senior pupils from across South Lanarkshire who work closely with Psychological Services to support the health and wellbeing of young people in school.

Organised and presented by the young people themselves, the conference was well attended by schools from across South Lanarkshire.

Lyndsay McRoberts, the council’s Executive Director of Education Resources, said: “This was yet another very successful conference, this year reflecting another very important issue that our young people wanted to debate and discus.

“The conference again showed to education staff and all those from the organisations who attended, just how important it is for our young people to be fully involved in the issues and concerns that are at the forefront of their everyday lives.

“Well done to our Wellbeing Warriors for a very successfully planned and co-rodinated conference.”

At the event held on Friday 13 March, senior pupils from Calderglen shared a video highlighting how they united the school community to update their anti-bullying policy.  

They were followed by Lorraine Glass from Respectme, Scotland’s National anti-bullying charity, who presented an impactful video - Noah’s story - showing the emotional impact of bullying.

The final speaker at the conference was Jordan Daly from TIE (Time for Inclusive Education charity)  who spoke very powerfully about his own experiences of being bullied at school—how he overcame this and  how it led to him being such an effective campaigner, achieving recognition for his work on tackling LGBT bullying in schools.

All attending agreed it was an inspirational talk to finish with.

Other organisations attending on the day SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health), VASLAN (Voluntary Action South Lanarkshire) and the online mental health and wellbeing community KOOTH who had stalls and staff on hand to highlight the support they offer for mental health and wellbeing issues in schools.