Wellbeing in Mind, which is part of our trust, work in schools and colleges across North Yorkshire and York to help students with mild to moderate mental health issues such as sleep difficulties, low mood, low self-esteem or anxiety.
Rob Berry, Wellbeing in Mind service manager, explains: “We support around 70 schools and colleges with seven teams working across Hambleton and Richmondshire, Selby, Scarborough and Ryedale, and Harrogate and York.
We’re excited to be increasing the number of roles in our existing teams across Selby and Hambleton and Richmondshire.
“Last year our teams worked directly with over 700 students and completed over 4,500 whole school / college approach activities. The whole school or college approach involves all parts of the school working in partnership – from senior leaders and school staff to parents, carers and the wider community – to support wellbeing, mental health and positive outcomes.”
Tackling mental health issues before they escalate
The teams, consisting of NHS professionals, focus on early identification and intervention and aim to tackle mental health issues before they escalate. They help reduce the need for more intensive mental health services further down the line, improve student engagement, increase resilience and wellbeing and create a positive school culture.
One school that has already benefitted from the expansion is Brayton Church of England Primary School in Selby. Deputy headteacher, Rebecca Cameron, said: “It’s been fantastic to have the Wellbeing in Mind team join us to help our work in supporting our children’s mental health and wellbeing.
The expertise and experience they bring into school has meant that staff have a better understanding of how to address the challenges children face.
“Parents and carers are also benefiting from their work through workshops and resources. Most importantly we are able to improve the help and support we can give children who are struggling with their mental health.”
The right support
Wellbeing in Mind also work collaboratively with other specialist services – providing expert advice and helping children and young people get the right support.
They work directly with students – delivering group sessions designed to build resilience and individual sessions for managing anxiety.
They also offer training for teaching staff, parents and carers and promote a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing.
“The expansion includes eight trainee education mental health practitioners, two senior clinicians, two clinical specialists, two whole school and college approach practitioners and one administrator. Plus, the introduction of two new social worker roles,” said Rob.
We’re busy appointing to the new roles now and three new staff have already started."
As a result of the expansion, Wellbeing in Mind is planning to target more primary schools and build resilience in children before they reach secondary school.
“We’re looking forward to expanding further so we can reach even more schools in the future. We plan to have up to 19 teams supporting 400 schools by 2030,” Rob continued.
The team is working towards the government target to expand MHSTs to every school in England by 2029/30.
