84: HealthTech Hour with Steve Roest - Episode 8484: HealthTech Hour with Steve Roest - Episode 84
UK Health Radio Podcast
Steve Roost chats with Laura Earnshaw about how her programme myHappymind supports children’s mental health through simple, school-based prevention. Their discussion touches on real-world data, NHS commissioning challenges and the mindset needed to keep pushing for change.
53:15•22 Sept 2026
Building Happier Kids: HealthTech, Schools and Prevention with Laura Earnshaw
Episode Overview
- Teaching simple mental health skills early in schools can reduce later crises and referrals into services such as CAMHS.
- Data from UK local authorities suggest schools using myHappymind see lower persistent absence, fewer suspensions and better academic attainment.
- Teachers often lack confidence and training in mental health, so ready-made content and tools can make prevention part of everyday classroom life.
- Focusing only on exam results misses children’s character strengths, which are key for self-esteem and long-term resilience.
- NHS and local authority targets currently prioritise treating illness over preventing it, so changing what is measured could shift funding towards prevention.
“Every action you take either gives you the result that you wanted or the lesson that you needed.”
What can we learn from those who have faced mental health pressures and turned them into something radically positive for children? HealthTech Hour brings together host Steve Roost and guest Laura Earnshaw, founder and CEO of myHappymind, to unpack exactly that. You’ll hear how Laura moved from corporate leadership development at AstraZeneca into children’s mental health after her four-year-old struggled with starting school and a close family member was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Her realisation that "it's the same science, whether you're an adult or a four-year-old" sparked myHappymind, a preventative mental health and character education programme now used in over 2,000 UK schools. The conversation digs into why schools are such a strong place for prevention, even though well-being isn’t prioritised in the curriculum and teachers get barely any training on mental health.
Laura explains how her programme gives teachers ready-made lessons and tools so emotional literacy can sit alongside numeracy, starting as early as age three with simple ideas about the brain, breathing strategies and character strengths. For anyone interested in data, there’s plenty here. Laura shares independent results from local authorities showing big reductions in severe persistent absence, suspensions and referrals into CAMHS where myHappymind is in place, plus gains in academic attainment because, as she puts it, "happy kids learn".
Steve and Laura also talk frankly about commissioning headaches, perverse incentives in targets, and why focusing on prevention still struggles for funding compared to crisis care. Laura’s rebel streak and customer-obsessed approach give a refreshingly practical view on how to work with, rather than complain about, the NHS.
The episode wraps with Laura’s favourite mindset tools, including the idea that "every action you take either gives you the result that you wanted or the lesson that you needed." If children’s resilience and mental health feel important to you, what kind of preventive support would you like to see in every school?
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