Resources and training for educational settings to support the wellbeing of the Children and Young People they work with.
Supporting Suffolk schools and families with Mental Health
This page contains resources, workshops and training for school staff and educational settings to help support the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children, young people and families.
To see all our latest mental health news go to our homepage.
Important update for schools
Changes to the Child and Young Person Neurodevelopmental Disorder (CYP NDD) Pathway
Suffolk and North East EssexIntegrated Care Board (SNEE ICB) have made enhancements to the Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopmental Disorder (NDD) Pathway referral form process for families who require an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis.
The below free virtual PD workshops are designed to provide up-to-date guidance for school staff on supporting children and young people’s wellbeing. The workshops are 60 minutes long and are suitable for staff who support children of all ages.
Understanding Young People's Self-harm
This workshop is aimed at school staff to support them to develop an understanding of what is meant by self-harm and why it happens. It will provide information on what schools can do to help support young people who self-harm and give information and resources that may be helpful to share with young people and parents.
Understanding and Supporting Pupils who have Experienced Bereavement
This workshop is aimed at school staff who support young people that have experienced a bereavement. It will give guidance on what can be done in schools to support young people and provide resources that can be shared with young people and their families.
Staff maybe interested in the up and coming NSFT parent and carer workshops which can be found on our 'Family Wellbeing' information page.
Kooth - Online Emotional Wellbeing Support in Suffolk for 11-18 year olds
Kooth provides British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy accredited services. Kooth is a commissioned online counselling service providing a free, safe and non-judgemental place for young people to connect and share with others their worries and know that they are not alone. They have access to self-help materials, live moderated discussion forums and tools such as online journals and goal trackers via the Kooth website. Young people can also access drop-in or booked 1-2-1 chat sessions with professional Kooth counsellors from 12pm-10pm weekdays and 6pm-10pm weekends.
Kooth services are completely anonymous and a fantastic way for young people to get the help and support they need, with no long waiting times or referral process.
Kooth news updates:
Kooth Healthcare Hub - This gives lots of information about the Kooth service with video intros and also lots of digital resources you can use to signpost young people to.
KoothTalks Training Sessions - Kooth offer monthly online national awareness sessions for professionals and parents/carers around different topics. These can be registered to for free and a recording will be sent if they are unavailable at that specific date/time.
Kooth school engagement lead contact - If your school would like to request Kooth to come along and provide a talk to pupils about their service, or if you have a wellbeing event that you would like Kooth to attend, you can contact our Suffolk Kooth engagement lead, Chloe Symeou. Email: csymeou@kooth.com
Recognising the collective trauma and heightened anxiety following the dreadful situation in Ukraine, we have gathered the following resources to help support children and young people.
This YouTube video 'Supporting our children in traumatic times', presented by Dr Tina Rae. Also see her blog page for more useful advice.
Podcast: Talking to your children about the Ukraine War
In this podcast episode Dr Beth Mosley (Consultant Clinical Psychologist) both mother and mental health professional, talks with Dr Kelsey Odgers (Clinical Psychologist) and Kelly (mother of two) about how we manage our children's exposure and time spent on news stories? And, how do we turn feelings into helpful actions. Listen to 'Talking to children about Ukraine War' Podcast Listen to our free Mental Health and You podcast series Or search for ‘Mental Health and You’ on Apple Podcasts.
The UK Trauma Council websitehas a range of information and resources to help you support refugee and asylum-seeking children who have experienced trauma.
For information and advice around helping children and young people sleep better, go to this Sleep Advice page
Services and organisations that can help with loss and bereavement:
Cruse Bereavement Care booklets - Child Bereavement Care has a number of booklets for helping children understand about loss on their website. They also have a support line for families (0808 808 1677), and offer training webinars to professionals.
Bereavement and Young People - This advice page is also from the Emotional Wellbeing Gateway website, and is aimed at helping parents and professionals to support a young person who is experiencing loss and grief.
When someone dies - This is a bereavement advice page aimed at young people from The Source website.
Having an ELSA in your school will mean you are able to offer interventions and planned programmes of support to children experiencing emotional, social and behavioural difficulties.
These family leaflets were co-produced with the 'Suffolk Parent Carer Network' SPCN, a group of parent/carers who represent the voices of families in Suffolk. (Note SPCN has now been replaced by Suffolk Parent Carer Forum)
Body image can affect children's health and wellbeing, social relationships and how they see themselves fit into the wider world. Research shows children are questioning their bodies at a younger and younger age.
Below school staff can find resources to help support their young people to be body positive and raise awareness of unrealistic messages around body perfection that we are subconsciously exposed to everyday in the media and around us.
The Body Happy Org - are a charity organisation that provides lots of useful body happy resources to help families and schools teach about what body image is and how it impacts children and young people.
Also explore information and advice on Body Image from these other places:
In view of recent events and the impact that Storm Babet has sadly had on some of our schools, staff and pupils in Suffolk, we have put together the following information which we hope you may find helpful.
Flooding Support
Children and Young People-and-Flooding (PDF) - This report was produced as part of a project run with two school communities in 2014 who suffered significant flooding. It helps to highlight some of the consequences flooding has on children and young people.
Some of the key points from the above report are as follows:
Children need to have those in school and in the community notice and acknowledge the significant flooding that has happened and how it has impacted so severely on their lives.
Children often feel isolated as it seems this has happened just to them and not happened to others.
It is very helpful and important that the children can share their experiences with others who have also been flooded. It can be within their school and between schools.
Research has found children want to know what is happening. They want to know about flood planning, what is happening when there is flooding and what it going to happen after the flooding.
Research found children want a voice, they want to be heard and be taken into account.
Those supporting children who have had their homes flooded must bear in mind the children and young people will have had their everyday practical lives changed significantly. They could be living with other people, have no access to their own things, they may have lost access to computers, printers etc.
The video below was produced as a result of the above research, and is moving to hear the emotional experiences of flooding on young lives and should be seen by teachers and students.
What can schools do to help children impacted by flooding?
It may be helpful to have some sessions with the children who are impacted by the flooding run as follows:
Having the opportunity to talk and share feelings about
What has happened?
What is happening now?
What is going to happen?
Professor Stevan Hobfoll, a leading authority on Stress and Resiliency, looked at what helped following traumatic events across communities worldwide and from this he developed five principles that contribute to creating the best environment for recovery. These are, we feel are very helpful and are widely shared by psychologists: Critical incidents: Five principles to plan for the unplannable
Video captures the moving experiences of flooding on children and young people
A national effort is being made to support children, young people and families with the recent social unrest, racism, violence and protests that have occurred across the UK.
Below are resources that might be helpful in supporting children and families:
Sky News' For Your Information show - a short video with advice for young children who may be afraid after the recent stabbings in Southport, by Laverne Antrobus at The Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust.
