Mental Health and Emotional Well-being
Our Commitment
At Sedlescombe CofE Primary School, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.
A child’s mental health will affect them for the rest of their life; it influences their overall health, happiness and productivity into adulthood. Promoting and protecting mental health in school is therefore one of the most important things we can do for them. Half of all lifetime mental health problems develop by the age of 14, affecting approximately three children in every classroom. Untreated problems in early life lead to adult mental illness.
As well as lifetime wellbeing there are immediate benefits to positive emotional health. Children are happier, make friends and sustain relationships, are aware of and understand others, face problems and setbacks and learn from them, enjoy their play and leisure time and, most importantly for schools, they learn better.
The Zones of Regulation
The Zones of Regulation help us to be able to identify our own feelings, read other people’s body language to think about how they are feeling and relate to others.
At Sedlescombe, we use Zones of Regulation throughout the school. Some children will require additional support to identify and regulate their emotions. Intervention groups will work through the programme.
Youth Fairy
We are offering a new wellbeing initiative at the school in collaboration with Becky Fisher, The Youth Fairy Hastings, a local children’s mental health service. The aim of the programme, is to improve negative self-belief and behaviours children may be exhibiting due to underlying anxiety and/or low self-esteem.
Becky has a background in education and has been teaching for 12 years. She is now a practicing child therapist specialising in Solution Focused Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy (SFH) for children and teenagers.
SFH is a positive focused talk therapy combined with guided relaxation and actively encourages children to re-focus more on the positive aspects of their lives, improve quality of sleep and engage in more positive actions, activities and interactions. Children who work with Becky are also taught the neuroscience behind anxiety, anger, negativity and low confidence (in a child friendly way); how they are created in the brain and why they cause children to feel and behave in certain ways. This knowledge helps children to gain a better understanding of their mental health and wellbeing and shows them how take more control in self managing it more effectively for themselves in the future.
Solution focused means that children will not need to delve into past issues, as the focus is on the future, how they would prefer to be feeling and behaving, and to help them achieve these desired outcomes. The aim is to recognise the skills and strengths they already have and to discover the small steps which they can take to move forward and cope more calmly and confidently with the day-to-day challenges in their life.
Tips from the Youth Fairy
Newsletter article – Children’s Mental Health Week youth fairy
Check back for more top tips from the Youth Fairy in the coming months!
Signposting
Parent & Carer mental health Workshops 24-25
September Sleep Tips for Your Child or Teen
Below, are links to information and guidance about the issues most commonly seen in school-aged children.
Support on all of these issues can be accessed via Young Minds and Mind.
Local Support for Primary Age Children
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the external organisations included here are reputable and well-known to school communities, and that the information is correct, we cannot guarantee the quality of any agencies listed, nor take any responsibility for any services they may provide.
Allsorts – all ages, countywide. Supports and empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans young people. Offers groups and 1:1 support with friendly and knowledgeable LGBT youth workers.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) – up to age 18, countywide. CAMHS supports children and young people across East Sussex who have behavioural, emotional or mental health problems. Referrals to the service must be made by a parent/carer or professional working with the child to the East Sussex Single Point of Advice (SPoA)
Dragonflies CYP Bereavement Support – all ages, Hastings, Rother and Eastbourne. Peer group sessions which encourage children and young people to share their feelings and experiences of bereavement. 1:1 support is also available for 15+ year olds and early years support for children under 5.
East Sussex Young Carers – ages 5-18, countywide. Supports young carers responsible for caring for a family member with a long-term illness, disability, mental health or substance issues. The team offer a range of short-term interventions including signposting, 1:1 support and in-school support and workshops.
Fegans – parent and school support, based in Tunbridge Wells. Evidence-based, tailor made support for parents and school staff.
Open for Parents – parents of 0-19 year olds, countywide. Previously Parenting Matters a free service that offers workshops (including the Triple P programme), drop in surgeries, discussion groups, resources and a weekly advice line. Parents and carers can self-refer.
Sussex Community Rail Partnership – Support for children and young people to travel independently by train, particularly those facing additional challenges such as special educational needs or disabilities.
Sussex Prisoners’ Families – Support and advice for children, young people and families who have a relative in prison. Also offers training for professionals on awareness of related issues.
Sussex Recovery College – Offers educational courses about mental health and recovery which are designed to increase knowledge and skills and promote self-management.
YMCA Dialogue – all ages, Eastbourne and Hastings. Offers counselling, advice, mental health support and other wellbeing services to children, young people and families.
YMCA Downslink WISE Project – up to age 25, countywide. 1:1 support and group work for children and young people at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation. The service also provides training to schools, community organisations, police and local authority teams.