NEW* Mental Health Support Teams in Schools
NEW TRAILBLAZER…..Mental Health Support Teams in Schools
Working in a unique and innovative Partnership with specialist TEWV CaMHs the Trailblazer Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) will be working with educational settings and wider services to
- support whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing,
- deliver evidence-based interventions for children experiencing mild-moderate mental health, whilst supporting families
- help transform children’s mental health services in our local areas and developing the links to external services including CaMHS
We are enthusiastic about helping children and families to get right support at the right time.
The MHST are based in two clusters, Hartlepool and Billingham, working with 40 settings to develop whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. This is a very exciting opportunity, with the introduction and development of a new role, Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) who are spending this first year studying at Northumbria University.
Trailblazer is a result of The Green Paper released in 2017 by the Departments of Education and Health, with the aims of developing a Whole School Approach, delivery of timely and appropriate interventions for children and young people who present with mild to moderate mental health issues and improving communication with local specialist CAMHS services. Included within the MHST there will also be interventions delivered by Parenting Practitioners, Children’s Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners and a provision for Young People 16+yrs.
To date, the MHST have had lots of engagement and enthusiasm from schools in transforming children’s mental health services in Hartlepool. The schools within Hartlepool are situated within the central and south clusters and have completed a self-assessment with the MHST to identify a baseline of strengths and areas for development. This has highlighted a great number of interventions and approaches already in place and it is very exciting to see how the schools and teams can build upon these. Many of the schools have also had assemblies delivered to the children and staff meetings to introduce the MHST and it is being introduced to parents through a combination of letters, social media posts, parents’ evenings and coffee mornings. The MHST are hoping to be fully operational in September 2020 when the EMHPS are fully qualified.
As you can imagine, it is going to be a very exciting and challenging times ahead! The MHST are throwing themselves into the encounters ahead with gusto and are really looking forward to developing relationships with parents, carers and families, schools and wider services.
If there are any parents or young people who would like to get involved in the development of the MHST, we would love to hear from them. If you would like further information or have any queries about the MHST, please contact CYPFamilies@alliancepsychology.com or 01642352747 option 2 and ask to speak to Rachel Norman or Vikki Mulligan.
