About us
The aims of our service are:
- To support mental and emotional well-being in children, leading to good school attendance and greater capacity to access effective learning
- To support the mental and emotional well-being of parents and carers, leading to positive, loving and supportive parenting which, in turn, supports the well-being of their children
- To help build more positive relationships and dynamics within families which creates a stronger family unit
- To develop more positive relationships between school and families. Delivering this service via the school has helped to secure confidence and trust from the families, which can sometimes be lost when external agencies are involved
- To build confidence in children and their families to know how and when to seek support for the difficult times they face
- To provide children and their families with a range of tools that can be used throughout their lives to promote mental and emotional well-being
- To help professionals have a greater understanding of children and family's mental and emotional wellbeing needs, behaviours and emotional communications.
Why We Exist
"History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children”
‘One in six school-aged children has a mental health problem. This is an alarming rise from one in ten in 2004 and one in nine in 2017’
‘Over half of all mental ill health disorders start before the age of 14, with 75 per cent by 24 years of age’
(Local Government Association, 2020)
‘Pupils who have a mental health problem are more likely to be excluded from school than their peers. In 2013/14, one in five students with an identified social, emotional and mental health difficulty received at least one fixed period exclusion’
(Department for Education, 2016)
‘School counselling can be a vital early intervention that prevents further mental health problems in later years’
Jo Holmes, BACP (2019)
The mental and emotional wellbeing of children and young people has been recognised as being as important as their physical health. Just as it is for adults. It has been well researched and documented that the earlier you can support and treat the emotional and mental health needs of children, the better the outcome for them as adolescents and into adulthood. They are more likely to cope with stress, maintain positive self esteem and demonstrate resilience to adverse experiences in their lives. They are also more likely to fulfil their potential in terms of their relationships, work and living satisfactory lives.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
‘More than half of adults (60%) and more than two thirds (68%) of children said their mental health got worse during lockdown’
Mind (2020)
It is widely acknowledged that we are currently experiencing a mental and emotional health crisis, impacted greatly by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated social restrictions. Children and young people are part of this crisis and although communication about their distress has arguably increased, the support and therapeutic services and resources to address this need, remains limited.
Like many services, we have creatively adapted our therapeutic support to include a virtual or remote service. This has come naturally for us as we are always looking for innovative ways to increase accessibility for children, their families and their school staff. If there are reasons why a child can’t be seen directly, we bolster the existing relationships and support around that child in order the child feels more secure. Sometimes increasing the awareness and understanding of the individuals and environments around a child can be enough to enable positive change.
How do we know it helps?
We are committed to learning and improving our services. In order we understand the impact and effectiveness of our services, we regularly evaluate our work using nationally recognised evaluation tools such as SDQ, CGAS, (C)ORS, CORE, SCORE forms. We also invite the children, their families and the professionals involved in their care to complete feedback questionnaires at review points and at the end of therapeutic interventions. Through our termly team meetings we engage closely with our therapy team to review our processes and share the things that are working well.
Who we work with
Our Team
Meet the dedicated people who help us make a real difference to children and young people’s mental health.
Our services
1 to 1 Therapy with children
1 to 1 Therapy with parents and carers
Professional Consultation; advice and support
Groupwork
Family Therapy
School Partnership
Get in touch
We’d love to discuss how we can help.
Contact us to arrange a meeting or discuss your needs.
Email: hello@heldinmind.co.uk
