Supporting Mental Health Awareness across the School Community
(case study)
We were approached by a local academy to support them in the development of key resources, consultation activities and workshops to enhance the awareness of mental health issues facing their pupils at key stages of their journey in school.
Working in partnership with Pastoral Leads and key stakeholders, our Educational Psychologist developed a package of materials and activities to support the school.
This ranged from:
Planning activities – discussions with parents, pupils and key school stakeholders to:
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create an annual plan
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agree core activities and topics
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identify target audiences and effective means of communication and engagement
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timescale for delivery
Training & Team Development
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Whole School training:
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Development of Therapeutic Skills for Trauma Informed Practice
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Introduction to Attachment Theory & Developmental Trauma
Topics for delivery to core Pastoral Lead team members:
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An introduction to therapeutic skills and the PACE model
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An introduction to emotional coaching
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Good practice and what we know about resilient schools
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Understanding and responding to anxiety based school refusal
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Stress, worry and anxiety. Responding to our young people.
Parent Workshops & Resources:
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Termly after school workshops around key topics including: Anxiety; Self Esteem; Friendships/Friends; Self Harm etc.
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Group Interventions
Sessions delivered to peer mentors/school council with the outcomes to build:
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self-awareness and core skills
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relating to emotional awareness
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emotional regulation
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social awareness
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decision making and positive futures
Small group sessions based on key themes taken from Resilience Framework for children and young people (adapted from Hart and Blincow 2007; reference Boing Boing 2015). The Resilience Framework summarises a set of ideas and practices that promote resilience, topics include:
COMPETENCY SESSION TOPIC
Self-Awareness / Social Awareness 1. Feelings / understanding feeling we have in our selves and others
Self-Awareness /Social Awareness 2. Talking about feelings
Self-Awareness / Self-Management 3. Understanding our body and feelings
Self-Management / Emotional Awareness 4. Paying attention to ourselves
Self-Awareness and Self-management 5. Changing unhelpful thoughts
Social awareness / Relationship skills 6. Values based role models
Self-Management / Self Awareness 7. Understanding stressors/ introducing coping step plans
Responsible decision making 8. Our roles and responsibilities. Solution finding together
Resilient Schools - where do we fit in 9. Intro to Resilient Framework for school.
Key ingredients of a resilient school
Self-Awareness /social skills / 10. Reflection and moving on
giving back to the community
Small group intervention to address key themes bespoke to each age and stage. For example:
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Year 7 transition focus (managing change and school belonging).
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Key Stage 3 (core self, belonging and skills of friendship / social awareness)
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Years 10 and 11 (preparation for life - positive futures)
Each group will receives six sessions of direct delivery on key topics:
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Bespoke interventions
Tailored interventions for individual young people who are seen as requiring a focused approach to address underlying vulnerabilities such as:
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risk of exclusion;
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showing lower level of attendance or school avoidance; or,
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struggling with key aspects of mental health and well-being
Support will be provided by way of:
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bespoke 8-week intervention, to help the young person work through a journey of change (utilising Motivational Interviewing approach); or,
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therapeutic intervention and bespoke package for young person, supported by an assigned Psychotherapist
The provision of these services brought mental health awareness to the whole school environment, providing focussed and specific support when required.
For more details regarding the services provided and how these impact the delivery of therapeutic education and care, please contact us.