Children and Adult Mental Health
Good Mental health
We all have a responsibility to promote children’s wellbeing, recognise any concerns about a child’s welfare and know what action to take to keep children safe.
We do this by talking with children about their mental health; teaching strategies to help improve mental health and by working alongside parents and carers. We provide opportunities in class for children to talk as well as having access to our Emotional Learning Support Assistant (ELSA) working 1:1 or in groups through a series of sessions to develop well-being.
Mental health and wellbeing are really important to us. If parents ever have concerns over a child or someone close to them, then we urge you to inform the class teacher so we can do our best for them in school. It is crucial we continue to build strong relationships with you as parents and us as a school.
When children have good levels of wellbeing it helps them to:
- learn and explore the world
- feel, express and manage positive and negative emotions
- form and maintain good relationships with others
- cope with, and manage, change, setbacks and uncertainty
- develop and thrive.
When children are supported to look after their mental health and develop their coping skills, it can help them to boost their resilience, self-esteem and confidence. It can also help them learn to manage their emotions, feel calm, and engage positively with their education - which can, in turn, improve their academic attainment.
We help our children develop social and emotional skills, providing them with the coping skills and tools they need to understand and manage their thoughts, feelings, behaviour, goals and relationships.
We do this through teaching health and wellbeing education in our PSHE lessons and weaving these topics and skills throughout the broader curriculum and school life.
Mindworks is here for you
Mindworks Surrey is the children and young people's emotional wellbeing and mental health service. The crisis line is for children and young people in mental health crisis. It is available 24/7 on 0800 915 4644.
The neurodevelopmental helpline is for parents of children with autism and ADHD. It is available between 5pm and 11pm on 0300 222 5755.
Visit Mindworks Surrey for more information on our emotional wellbeing and mental health services for children and young people in Surrey.
Supporting Children With Worries and Anxiety
All children have worries and many children will experience periods in their life where these worries feel quite overwhelming and cause them anxiety. It can be really hard to know what to do when you see your child struggling to cope with strong emotions so we thought it would be useful to share some of the approaches that we use as a school.
We like the analogy which describes three main parts of your brain as different animals. The Guard Dog is your Amygdala which controls your emotions and your response to stress. It helps you sense and respond to real or perceived danger. The Wise Owl is your Pre-frontal Cortex which controls thinking and reasoning. Sometimes when your Guard Dog is ‘barking’ at something it feels is dangerous, you can’t hear your Wise Owl and so can’t think rationally about the situation. Your Happy Hippo is the Hippocampus which stores your long-term memories and learned responses.
When your Guard Dog senses danger (real or not) you can go into Fight, Flight or Freeze mode. You might get angry, want to run away from the situation, or just shut-down and try to avoid it. When you practice calming techniques repeatedly, these are stored in your Happy Hippo from where you can more easily retrieve them at times of stress. You can then calm your Guard Dog and listen more carefully to your Wise Owl so that you can make a more helpful decision about what action to take next. This useful link shows Jaime from Cosmic Kids sharing a story from her childhood which illustrates the Guard Dog and the Wise Owl in a child-friendly way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8QN9an3t8
You may also find this video from Pooky Kingsmith Mental Health useful
She outlines four steps to follow when helping your child to understand their anxious feelings and how to manage them.
Step 1: LISTEN - put aside time to really listen without trying to problem solve. What does it feel like for your child emotionally and physically? Are they aware of any triggers? Try not to make judgements about what they are feeling at this stage.
Step 2: QUESTION - encourage your child to question their thoughts and feelings. Is the reason for the anxiety a valid one? Is the source of the anxiety fact or fiction? Is it likely or unlikely to happen?
Step 3: BE PRACTICAL - identify trigger points in a normal day. Are they things you can address, or can you address your child’s feelings about them? Be careful with avoidance - it can be appropriate but can sometimes make things loom larger and mean we don’t address the issue.
Step 4: FIND WAYS TO SELF-SOOTHE - practice these at other times, not when your child is feeling anxious. What makes your child feel good/calmer? Music, breathing, running, dancing, singing, drawing or colouring? Can these strategies be put in place at times you know your child is likely to become anxious?
Social Emotional and Mental Health
The area of Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs (SEMH) includes: -
- Social and emotional functioning
- Well being
- The ability to self-regulate and behaviour
- Mental Health wellness
The 2015 SEND Code of Practice defines SEMH in the following way:
“Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.”[1]
An increasing number of children and young people are experiencing Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties. At Moss Lane School we are committed to promoting and protecting all pupils’ and adults’ mental health and wellbeing throughout the culture of the school and curriculum. We do this by offering a nurturing approach. This helps us to prepare children for emotional ups and downs by teaching the necessary skills of perseverance and resilience. As a result, children become more self-assured and ready to engage with life and learning.
The skills, knowledge and understanding needed by our children to keep themselves and others physically and mentally healthy and safe are included as part of our PHSE curriculum. This will hopefully give them the confidence to seek help, as needed, for themselves and others. We will follow our PHSE curriculum to ensure that we teach mental health and emotional wellbeing issues in a safe and sensitive manner which helps rather than harms.
For some children and young people, difficulties in their emotional and social development can mean that they require additional and different provision in order for them to achieve. Therefore, some of our approaches will be targeted approaches aimed at individual children and/or small groups.
If you would like to know more these websites may be of interest to you: -
- [1] ‘Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice 0-25 years’, Department for Education & Department for Health, 2015)
- Nurture Group Network https://www.nurturegroups.org/
- Engage in their Future https://engageintheirfuture.org/
- Place2Be www.place2be.org.uk
- Young Minds http://www.youngminds.org.uk/
- Charlie Waller Memorial Trust https://www.cwmt.org.uk
If you feel that your child is having problems at school due to Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties please contact your child’s class teacher or our Home School Link worker Ms Forbes Wood.
A new 24/7 mental health crisis line for children, young people and their families and carers in Surrey has launched.
The freephone number - 0800 9154644 – is available for children and young people up to the age of 18, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).
The new crisis line provides emotional wellbeing support, advice, and signposting to a range of community services for children, young people and their families and carers who are in a mental health crisis. The number is available to those who are already receiving mental health services, and also for those who are not. No referral is needed.
The crisis line is staffed by a team of experienced, trained call handlers and mental health nurses.
A key aim of the crisis line is to help support young people, carers and families within their own homes and in the community and, whenever possible, help avoid the need for children and young people to go to hospital in a crisis.
SPICE UP YOUR LIFE!
Nurturing ourselves and meeting our own needs is a very important part of emotional health. When we are busy it can sometimes be hard to find a moment for ourselves. It’s very easy, when we are focusing on the needs of the other members of our families, to put our needs last.
If we neglect ourselves, we can become tired and stressed and this makes it really hard to find enjoyment in family life. So we owe it to ourselves to take time out and recharge our batteries.
There are six different areas of need that we should consider when making sure we are looking after ourselves: Social, Physical, Intellectual, Creative, Emotional and Spiritual.
You can easily remember these by thinking of the word SPICES. If you can find a way to look after each of these areas of need by doing something you enjoy, you will improve your emotional health. It doesn’t have to be something that will take a lot of time out of your day. Some simple suggestions are:
Social – Talking to friends on the phone or meet virtually, going for a walk with a friend.
Physical – Gardening, walking, jogging, dancing Intellectual – Reading, watch a documentary on TV, On-line classes, play chess or another strategic game. Creative – Listen to music, DIY, drawing or colouring.
Emotional – Watch or read something that will make you laugh, share a worry with someone, do something to help someone, eat something that’s a treat!
Spiritual – Meditate, yoga, mindfulness, enjoy nature on a walk.
Remember, don’t feel selfish for finding time for yourself everyone will benefit from having a happier you.
Practical parenting tips you can use to make virtual school a bit better
Do everything you can to stay calm when a crisis happens. It’s natural for parents to get upset when their child is upset. But you can’t help your child when you’re not calm, and it can make the situation worse. Staying calm doesn’t mean glossing over the issue and gritting your teeth in a fake smile. Acknowledge and validate your child’s feelings in a calm voice.
- I know how upsetting this is. We’re going to figure it out.
- It looks like you’re feeling frustrated/angry/sad. Let’s see what I can do to help you.
After you’ve calmly validated their feelings, address whatever caused the outburst. Talk about the problem and work through it together, Discuss steps you or your child can take. This may include talking to the teacher about the vanishing assignment or searching for their login information. Maybe they can ask friends, teachers or school contacts for help.
Brainstorm ways to prevent future mishaps with virtual learning. Involve your child in the process. Planning can help them feel calmer and in control. Consider these prevention strategies:
- Save a backup file of work or take a picture before sending them.
- Create a daily schedule/timetable with login information etc.
- Set alarms for zoom start times, breaks or other important times.
- Keep a list of each teacher’s name and contact info handy.
4. Understand that webcams can cause anxiety
Does your child avoid virtual meetings or get worried/upset when it’s time for zoom class calls? Some children get anxious or self-conscious when they see themselves on a video call. This can interfere with their learning as well as their mental health. We hear about this problem a lot. First, try to find out what makes them anxious. Is it their room in the background? Set up the call in another room. Are they self-conscious about their appearance? Help them get up earlier, so they have plenty of time to get dressed, do their hair and get ready. In some cases, you can ask the teacher if your child can attend class without the camera on. If this can’t happen, talk with your child about how to deal with webcam-phobia. We all think everyone is looking at us, but this isn’t the case. Tell them you know it feels uncomfortable, but others aren’t staring at them. Their classmates are focused on their own appearance, too.
5. Avoid toxic positivity
Managing anxiety does not mean having a fake, Susie Sunshine attitude. Toxic positivity is when we pretend everything is great even when it’s not. It doesn’t allow us space to express frustration, anger or sadness. We don’t want to teach our kids that we don’t have thoughts or feelings. We need to identify and label our feelings and express them in healthy ways. In other words, you don’t have to pretend that a pandemic is easy-peasy. That’s a relief.
Surrey County Council have published some guidance to support your mental health and wellbeing. Having good mental health helps us to relax more, achieve more and enjoy our lives more. Evidence shows there are 5 key elements which contribute to mental wellbeing:
Five Ways to Wellbeing
- Connect with people around you
- Be active by building activity into your everyday routine
- Keep learning to gain self confidence and learn new skills
- Give - helping others can boost wellbeing
- Take notice by focussing on your thoughts and feelings
https://www.healthysurrey.org.uk/mental-wellbeing/adults
The coronavirus has been a nightmarish crash course in dealing with stress. But sometimes, stress is something more. These signs could mean your child needs medical care for depression, anxiety or another health concern:
- Sleeping more or less than usual.
- Not eating enough or eating too much.
- Getting upset when a parent leaves (separation anxiety).
- Loss of interest in activities or friends.
- Ongoing health problems like stomach aches, nausea or headaches.
- Episodes of dizziness, trouble breathing, shakiness or sweating.
When children have good levels of wellbeing it helps them to:
- learn and explore the world
- feel, express and manage positive and negative emotions
- form and maintain good relationships with others
- cope with, and manage, change, setbacks and uncertainty
- develop and thrive.
When children are supported to look after their mental health and develop their coping skills, it can help them to boost their resilience, self-esteem and confidence. It can also help them learn to manage their emotions, feel calm, and engage positively with their education - which can, in turn, improve their academic attainment.
We help our children develop social and emotional skills, providing them with the coping skills and tools they need to understand and manage their thoughts, feelings, behaviour, goals and relationships.
We do this through teaching health and wellbeing education in our PSHE lessons and weaving these topics and skills throughout the broader curriculum and school life, such as using Trick Box and Kelso’s Choices.
Good Mentl health
We all have a responsibility to promote children’s wellbeing, recognise any concerns about a child’s welfare and know what action to take to keep children safe.
We do this by talking with children about their mental health; teaching strategies to help improve mental health and by working alongside parents and carers. We provide opportunities in class for children to talk as well as having access to our Emotional Learning Support Assistant (ELSA) working 1:1 or in groups through a series of sessions to develop well-being.
Mental health and wellbeing are really important to us. If parents ever have concerns over a child or someone close to them, then we urge you to inform the class teacher so we can do our best for them in school. It is crucial we continue to build strong relationships with you as parents and us as a school.
Educational psychologist service
Telephone hotline for parents Our telephone hotline runs every Wednesday from 1-4pm and is available to parents/carers should they have a psychological issue or question about their child they feel it would be helpful to discuss with an EP. During the phone call, EPs will focus on problem solving, providing information and signposting if appropriate. This is not a formal means of referring an individual child to an EP and these consultations about children are anonymous. The following information will be recorded for administrative purposes: school name, age and gender of the child and a summary of key issues causing concern. No prior arrangement is necessary – simply call into your area telephone number for your area between 1 – 4pm each Wednesday as follows: If you call and the hotline is busy, business support will take a message for an EP to call you back within 48 hours of your call.
NE: 01372 833 588
SE: 01737 737 777
NW: 01483 518 130
SW: 01483 517 179
