Children and Young People’s Mental Health

Emotional health plays a huge role in how children and young people think, feel, behave and develop.

Poor emotional health and wellbeing can lead to a range of mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, depression and panic attacks. This can make it difficult for a child or young person to feel positive about their sense of identity and subsequently undermine their relationships with family and friends.

Statistical information on the emotional health and wellbeing of children and young people in England are published by the NHS. The UK Government issues guidance to schools on their responsibilities to children and young people in terms of promoting mental well-being, as well as important research on published policies in this area.

 

Maintaining good mental health

Good mental health is not simply the absence of diagnosable mental health problems, although good mental health is likely to help protect against the development of many such problems.

Good mental health is characterised by a child or young person’s ability to fulfil a number of key daily living activities, including:

• the ability to learn
• the ability to feel, express and manage a range of positive and negative emotions
• the ability to form and maintain good relationships with others
• the ability to cope with and manage change and uncertainty.

Resources to support children and young people self-manage their emotional and mental health is available from a range of organisations including Young Minds, Mind, NHS, The Zone, Step4 and Kooth.

We are always keen to extend our provision, so please do get in touch if you feel there is anything additional we can provide.

 

Parents, carers and professionals

Support to children and young people from parents, carers and professionals is equally as important to self-help strategies. Mind, Step4 and Young Minds all provide some useful resources in this area.

Resources for parents and carers and professionals are also available through a free educational resource provided by and professionals are also available through a free educational resource provided by MindED. Information on diagnosable mental health conditions and on mental health medication is available from Hedmeds.

 

 

Mental Health and Wellbeing at Hele’s School

At Hele’s we believe in supporting students to have positive mental health. Routines and rules are carefully considered to provide a fair, consistent and safe place for students where they can be supported to remain mentally healthy and learn in a disruption-free environment. All students fall under our universal offer of care which extends from being greeted each day on the school gate, through to having a dedicated tutor, Pastoral Support Manager and Head of Year and being taught by staff who have been trained in Trauma Informed Schools Practice and who receive regular training around the teenage brain and mental health conditions.

We recognise that at times, some students may need more than the universal offer and offer three additional waves of support as detailed below. As with any intervention, it is essential that the intervention put in place directly addresses the presenting issue/s and therefore work is done with both the student and their parents/carers to ascertain the correct support. Any intervention selected is reviewed and monitored for success with additional interventions or escalation through the waves of support decided on an individual basis.

If you have any concerns about your child’s mental health and wellbeing, their tutor or any member of their Pastoral Team should be the first contact. They will then advise on next steps.

 

Where to get Additional/Out of School Support