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In the last three years, the likelihood of young people having a diagnosable mental health problem has increased by 50% raising the current statistic to five out of thirty children in a classroom (Children’s Society Aug 2021). There is also strong evidence of a clear link between poor mental health and academic achievement.

Introduction

This resource has been developed by YMCA Trinity Group on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council & Peterborough City Council so that schools can have clarity about the pathways and resources available to support and promote the emotional wellbeing of pupils and respond to any mental health needs appropriately and in a timely way.

It is organised within the THRIVE framework. THRIVE is based on a conceptual framework that Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have adopted as an approach to support the emotional wellbeing of all children and young people. The model will be explained more fully later.

Schools are in a unique position to provide timely support for the emerging mental health needs of pupils. Staff are in daily contact with children and young people and therefore available, accessible and aware when they are struggling. Schools can also proactively help to prevent and mitigate mental health problems by implementing evidence-based whole school approaches.

We know from research that early identification and intervention are crucial for positive outcomes for children and young people. But schools often report lack of confidence in relation to addressing mental health needs, feeling that they don’t have the right skills and tools, including reliable and safe information about how and where to get support. In addition, school staff have been dealing with the challenges of the pandemic both in terms of day to day management over the past 18 months and also the impact it has had on the emotional wellbeing of many pupils, hence the rising incidence of difficulties.

Content Clarity

These web pages will support schools with many of these concerns but it should not be treated as a definitive or exhaustive list. It will not be possible to carry out frequent, extensive updating but many of the websites listed will have a strong national presence and local information about services can also be accessed elsewhere.

Whilst this is a list of available resources and services that have a presence locally, the Local Authority and Health Services hold no responsibility over the quality assurance of provision that has not been commissioned through our organisations. We recommend using this quality assurance checklist when considering purchasing external provision for your school.

It is important to bear in mind that the most effective use of the website does rely on practitioners being able to carry out a basic assessment of mental health needs. It is important not to make assumptions or jump to early conclusions. For example, a young person asking to be signposted to a website to help them cope with a falling out among friends may be experiencing bullying or possibly abuse.

Whilst this resource is aimed at school staff, you can also find various other resources across the website using the following links:

For professionals:  https://www.keep-your-head.com/prof

For children and young people https://www.keep-your-head.com/cyp

For adults  https://www.keep-your-head.com/adults

Footnote

This resource is reliant on information provided to us by organisations and partners at the time of writing, therefore the level of detail and accuracy varies across services and some may be missed. We recommend visiting the webpage of a service directly should you require further information.

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