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Back to schools wellbeing action plan example

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Back to schools wellbeing action plan example

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St Finbar's school have kindly shared their back to school MHWB action plan.

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GYRO are award-winning LGBTQ+ groups for young people aged 12-25 who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or are Questioning their sexuality or gender identity. 1 to 1 appointments are available with a worker with an LGBTQ+ specialism for confidential support if you feel groups aren't right for you.

Note: We use LGBTQ+ to encompass and include all identities across the spectrums of sexuality and gender.

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Wellbeing Services - Young Person's Advisory Service

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GYRO are award-winning LGBTQ+ groups for young people aged 12-25 who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or are Questioning their sexuality or gender identity. 1 to 1 appointments are available with a worker with an LGBTQ+ specialism for confidential support if you feel groups aren't right for you.

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Date/Time

11/03/2021 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm

How can we be more trauma-informed?

As we are preparing for our children to return back to school, it has been highlighted that vulnerable children will have been even more at risk whilst at home during the lockdown.

This bitesize training is to equip anyone caring for, or looking after children and young people with the knowledge on how to have the confidence to practice trauma-informed approaches in regards to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs are stressful or traumatic experiences that can have a huge impact on children and young people throughout their lives.

Merseyside Youth Association has developed a training course that will build upon schools' understanding of resilience and person-centred approaches and reflect on how they currently foster a nurturing, environment for all children.

**This bite-size course will be delivered via Zoom. You will receive confirmation of the Zoom call via email two days prior to the course start date**
Please contact SophieW@mya.org.uk if you have any questions about this course.

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ACEs and Trauma-Informed Practice - Bite-size via ZOOM - Liverpool CAMHS

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11/03/2021 @ 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm - How can we be more trauma-informed? As we are preparing for our children to return back to school, it has been highlighted that vulnerable children will have been even more at risk whilst at home during the lockdown.

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What are you dreaming of doing once the pandemic is over? Be as wacky, weird and wonderful as you like! You don't have to be the world's best artist - we want to see what you're looking forward to, however you'd like to draw it! Above all, have fun!

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Almost a year on from Calling all Keyworkers , as the UK struggles to cope with an even more deadly second wave of the pandemic, we are relaunching Bottle Moments. But this time, with a bit of a difference.

Our first pandemic project was for keyworkers.

Bottle Moments 2 gives a much-needed boost to parents & teachers at a difficult time, and, most importantly of all, it's great fun for the kids themselves. The week commencing 1st February, incidentally, is also

In light of the challenges posed by home schooling, and those faced by teachers in schools for vulnerable and key-worker children that have remained open, we are putting out a nationwide call to schools & parents in the UK to get kids to draw their own Bottle Moments, with the opportunity of having their picture drawn by Bottle Moments cartoonist, Rob Murray, printed on a special mug, and presented to them in person by Good Morning Britain host, Ben Shephard.

Your Bottle Moment is the one thing you'd most like to do again when everything is better and back to normal. It could be a friend you'd most like to see, a place you'd most like to go, a hobby you'd most like to get back to, or simply getting a hug from someone special.

Download and print out your Bottle Moments template There are a few different designs to choose from!

Get your parent, teacher, carer or a friend/family member to post a picture of your drawing on either their Instagram or Twitter (or you can post it yourself if you have your own account). Make sure they add a description of your Bottle Moment, include your age, and use the hashtag #bottlemoments in their post in order for your entry to count!

If you are unable to enter using social media, entries can alternatively be emailed

to - though please note, all entries will be considered,

but we might not be able to reply individually to every single one.

We will consider entries based on four age categories (which is why you need to include your age!):

As lockdown begins to ease, Rob and Kev will pick out their 20 favourites - those that, for whatever reason, just happen to 'catch their eye' - from each age group, which will be posted . The baton will then be handed over to Good Morning Britain presenter and Bottle Moments supporter, Ben Shephard, who will pick his10 favourites from each of Rob and Kev's selections.

We want to give as many children the chance to enter whilst we wait for the government's verdict on schools reopening. When a closing date for the competition is decided, we will announce it a week in advance.

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Almost a year on from Calling all Keyworkers , as the UK struggles to cope with an even more deadly second wave of the pandemic, we are relaunching Bottle Moments. But this time, with a bit of a difference. Our first pandemic project was for keyworkers.

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Book of Hopes Transition Teaching Sequences

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Book of Hopes Transition Teaching Sequences

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Planning from The National Literacy Trust and Babcock LCP for Y6/7 based on The Book of Hopes, edited by Katherine Rundell

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The transition from primary school to secondary is always a difficult time for students and lockdown has presented further challenges. To help teachers support students during this transition period, we've teamed up with Babcock LPD to create two free teaching sequences based on Katherine Rundell's The Book of Hopes. The book has been extremely popular on Family Zone with primary and secondary age students.
Intentions of the teaching sequences:
Year 6:

To support Year 6 pupils with coming to terms with the disruption to their final year in primary school through both reading and writing;

To provide an opportunity for the children to write according to their own personal preferences but within an overall theme of hope;

To give Year 6 children a platform to celebrate and present their final pieces of writing to their wider community (all Year 6 pupils, their parents, the school community and possibly a wider audience), perhaps as part of their Year 6 Leavers' Celebration.

Year 7:

To provide an accessible and reflective start to the KS3 curriculum in strange and uncertain times;

To support Year 7 students to draw their KS2 grammar knowledge into their KS3 work;

To provide a challenging Year 7 English experience built on some recognisable KS2 pedagogy.

You can download both teaching sequences for free in the side bar.

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The Book of Hopes teaching sequences for Year 6 and 7 | National Literacy Trust

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The transition from primary school to secondary is always a difficult time for students and lockdown has presented further challenges. To help teachers support students during this transition period, we've teamed up with Babcock LPD to create two free teaching sequences based on Katherine Rundell's The Book of Hopes.

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Learnerama- Drama at a Distance: Everybody Counts

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Learnerama- Drama at a Distance: Everybody Counts

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Drama plans from Learnerama to support children in exploring the potential impact of Lockdown on individual members of a community.
To understand the potential impact of Lockdown on individual members of a community. To develop an understanding of Lockdown as being a shared but different experience for everyone. To be able to use the skill of inference within reading and writing
Designed for pupils in KS2 and could be used/adapted for use in KS3

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Learnerama- Drama at a Distance to support Lockdown Experiences Using 'Everybody Counts'

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A booklet from Liverpool Learning Partnership for pupils moving from primary school to secondary school

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Support From Agencies Relating To The Wider Reopening of Schools

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Support From Agencies Relating To The Wider Reopening of Schools

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Returning to School_ Support from Agencies (1)

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A worksheet from Beth Wooldridge to support with thoughts about coming back into school (@tweets_by_beth)
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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A parent/carer guide to support the return to school
Suitable for parents with pupils in Primary settings

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A parent/carer guide to support the return to school

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Printable positivity posters that you could use on school grounds or in the staff room
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Parenting Through Covid: Liverpool Early Help Directory

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Parenting Through Covid: Liverpool Early Help Directory

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Information of available support from organisations in Liverpool
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Temporary COVID-19 Service Offer - ALPHABETICAL ORDER Action For Children, Liverpool.
We are continuing to deliver our volunteer led family support and youth mentoring service in Liverpool during lockdown. But are not able to take any new referrals.

While the Blues teams are not in schools we would like to offer you some resources to assist at this time. It is a journaling toolkit and is free to download from our website

There is a toolkit for young people to use on their own and there is a teacher/facilitator toolkit with lesson plans too

Please feel free to share with anyone you feel may benefit. https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/children-young-people/mental-health/cant-talk-write/

Additional there is support for parent carers can access on line - which also has the option for a live chat to an experience practitioner - please do have a look and get the support that you need during this time.

Coronavirus Updates As coronavirus puts extra pressure on families, we're providing more online parenting support. We have lots of advice and resources available to support you, to share with families as well as local partners and organisations in your area.

Discover our Covid-19 advice and support https://www.parents.actionforchildren.org.uk/covid-19-advice-support.

Early Help Are you looking for trusted resources and advice to share with parents? We have lots of information available online - from managing different parenting styles to separated parents or setting boundaries with teenagers. Our advice and guidance is available 24/7 https://advice.actionforchildren.org.uk/advice.

Emotional Wellbeing We also have advice for parents on how to support young people with their emotional wellbeing. Our team offer guidance for parents and carers to support their children - as well as how to look after themselves. Find out more https://minds.actionforchildren.org.uk/.

Early Years With most children now at home all day, we have some great ideas to involve them in helping with keeping things tidy. Explore advice from our parenting coaches to help little ones adapt to spending more time at home. https://dots.actionforchildren.org.uk/learning-everyday/tidying-up/.

Self-referral from parents

Self-referral for young people aged 14 and over

Early years support for both public and private early years providers across the city

Information, advice and guidance to parents

Online therapy/counselling/CBT for Looked After Children from LCC Virtual School

Online therapy and continuity support for children and young people referred by schools

Online parenting skills programme

Email and telephone enquiries

24/7 online social media support for 120,000+ followers

Webinars, podcasts and printed recourses are posted across the city. https://www.adhdfoundation.org.uk/

Professionals online focus drop ins and workshops

Children's and family activities

Sleep support

Online Community Network Groups

Follow us on Twitter: @ADDvancedSol or Instagram: @ADDvancedSolutions

We are offering telephone and email consultations so please get in touch by calling 0151 486 1788 from 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, or email us at info@addvancedsolutions.co.uk.

Advice and strategies for families of children and young people with autism or social communication needs. Monday to Friday: 9am - 12pm alternatively, you can email your concern to ASDtrainingteam@liverpool.gov.uk

Working to support young carers and working alongside partners to refer to them

https://www.barnardos.org.uk/what-we-do/services/action-young-carers-liverpool

email: youngcarers.liverpool@barnardos.org.uk or call 0151 228 4455

Online dance & arts-based workshops to children and young people with neurological conditions. The project combines physiotherapy and dance for one type of workshop and occupational therapy and art for the other type of workshop.
https://thebraincharity.org.uk/how-we-can-help/practical-help/children-young-people-s-services
The Liverpool CAMHS Partnership has adapted as coronavirus impacts our everyday lives. Our partners are working hard to ensure children, young people and families get the support they need during this time. Only available for YP and parents who are open to Liverpool FRESH CAMHS and have been referred due to mental health concerns that would warrant a specialist CAMHS Service and can't be referred into externally just for the parent group.

If you are a child or young person in crisis, you can call the crisis care line 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 0151 293 3577 but you should only present to Accident Emergency Department if you need medical treatment or are struggling to keep yourself safe in the immediate moment.
www.freshcamhs.org
camhs.referrals@alderhey.nhs.uk

Welfare calls to parents

Home Learning/ Activity Packs

Speech, Communication and Language interventions 0-5yrs

Supporting Children with SEN/D

Parenting advice & support - Routines/ Behaviour

Housing/ LCSS Grant support

Fareshare Food Parcels (available at some centres)

Online learning and tips for parenting during COVID-19

Food Bank vouchers

Emergency food and fuel vouchers (limited)

Ante natal appointments are still going ahead on some sites and we are sending out ante natal information packs around the Bump birth and beyond

ESF Ways to Work support

Referral: self by calling your local centres or speak to health visitor

Our first contact postnatally will commence with a phone call assessments and visit if necessary following discharge from the hospital.

We then have continued to provide postnatal care (day 5, day 7 if required and day 10 home visits)

We discharge women after an assessment of mother and baby, if there are any concerns we would continue to support. HV services will then contact women and families for their birth visit.

Helpline: 0151 233 5978

If you are concerned about your child's emotional wellbeing or managing their behaviour then please ring for professional advice, support or practical strategies. Monday to Friday: 9am - 4.30pm alternatively, you can email your concern to epsadmin@liverpool.gov.uk

Blue Family campaign to combat isolation and support societies most vulnerable

Fans and members of the community in greatest need contacted by Everton in the Community staff to deliver tailored and focused support, assistance and guidance, including:

Essential food parcels distribution, including breakfast packs for young children

Financial assistance for prescription purchases and delivery

Mobile phone credit for those living alone and with limited support networks

Support with gas and/or electricity vouchers for those facing increased fuel bills

Mental health support and advice

A referral service for access to Everton in the Community's support provision

Calls from the Everton Fan Centre to thousands of fans to maintain contact and provide a friendly voice to talk to, prioritising the elderly and isolated https://www.evertonfc.com/bluefamily/referral

Home Visits to cases flagged Red and Amber

Direct Work with Children and Young People (Socially distanced or virtual)

Parenting advice and support (Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Sessions / Provision of information and resources)

Therapeutic Support to children, young people and families via our own Therapists

A range of Therapeutic Resources have been developed

Referrals to Citizens Support Scheme

Virtual Family Group Conferences (emergencies only)

Support to families who are subject to virtual Court Proceedings

Welfare calls to children, young people and their families

Information / advice / guidance / support to children, young people and their families around Covid 19

Activity and resource packs

Safeguarding statutory duties/welfare calls

Birth Visits virtual/ face to face if required

Antenatal virtual/ face to face if required

Faltering growth clinic by referral only

On call Health Visitor for support /advice Mon -Fri 9-5

For more information visit https://www.merseycare.nhs.uk/our-services/physical-health-services/health-visiting/

Kinship Carers Liverpool

supporting families who are raising somebody elses child.

WhatsApp groups targeting different needs:
- general info/questions and keeping up to date
- health and well-being group
- education resources
- peer support
- young peoples WhatsApp chat

Zoom meeting which include coffee mornings, intergenerational activities and young peoples John Muir Award scheme
Regular ring rounds to all our families to assess needs, with weekly doorstep visits to deliver fresh fruit, veg and salad parcel, activities and resources.
To access our services or for further information contact us on:
eve@kinshipcarersliverpool.co.uk or call us on 07843881127 (Pauline)
www.kinshipcarersliverpool.co.uk

Supporting families with play recourse packs through the Positive About Play initiative

Currently supporting Liverpool City Councils helpline, ensuring vulnerable members of the community gain signposting and support to services and volunteers

Funding portal for organisations - COVID-19 support funds to help families

https://www.lcvs.org.uk/working-together/
LFC Foundation has launched an online safeguarding campaign to help support participants who are unable to attend their school and community sessions during the COVID-19 national lockdown.

Virtual employability sessions

Access to food services for families

Liverpool Parent and Carers Forum (LivPaC) is a group of parents and carers of children and young people with special additional needs and/or disabilities (SEND). We aim to give parents and carers a collective voice and use our experience, knowledge, and feedback from families to help commissioners and providers plan and develop the quality, range and accessibility of services families use.

'Alone we can do So little. BUT together we CAN do so MUCH'

Our Virtual Coffee Sessions our jointly held with our friends from The Isabella Trust (Guest speakers from all services)

Webinars with therapist and The Isabella Trust

Peer to Peer support for families

If families would like to book a place then they will need to email us at livpac@hotmail.co.uk

Twitter: @LivPaCL8

Instagram:- livpac

Adults concerned about the wellbeing of a child can contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk

If a parent/carer is worried about a child, have a question, or just need some reassurance they can contact the Helpline as above.

Childline remains open to children and young people:

Children can speak to a counsellor on the phone or online between 9am and midnight.

Online chats are picked up until 10.30pm and the voice service runs until midnight.

The Childline website including sending emails will still be available 24 hours a day. Our website has available new tips and advice to help new parents through the early years. From getting babies to sleep, to managing stress, and how to look after parents' own mental health.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice and support for parents and carers

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/coronavirus-advice-suppport-children-families-parents/
MDVS have adapted our existing work to reach more people during this crisis. Our working hours are ever changing to meet the needs and demand of those in need of urgent support. re continuing to support victims of domestic violence across the board, we are also continuing our work with male perpetrators through phone contact, Zoom groups and WhatsApp video calls. MDVS are providing the following support.

Covid-19 working days/hours - MDVS are operating Monday to Friday days each week from 9am to 10pm and have 2 staff on call on weekends.

We can accept referrals for individuals aged 16 years and upwards.

Delivering weekly food parcels for 30 families

Providing Tablet Devices for families to assist with communicating and contact

Support and safety planning with male and female victims of domestic violence via phone and video call

Group work and 1 to 1 work with female victims and survivors of domestic violence held weekly

Group work and 1 to 1 work with male perpetrators held 3 times per week

Main contact number - 07802 722 703

Evening and Weekend contact number (after 5pm) 07802 722 703 / 07780 948 890

Main email - ayla.mdvs@ymail.com

Website: www.mdvs.org

Currently delivering Youth Connect 5 virtually for parents and young people to access together

Poetry sessions on Instagram live

Our landline, email and postal addresses all remain active, and MYA's mentors/workers will still be contactable via telephone and/or email, so please get in touch if you have any immediate concerns.

0151 702 0700 admin@mya.org.uk

Positive Futures is a charitable organisation based in North Liverpool. We work with young people aged 8 to 24yrs and their families giving them access to support, guidance, 1:1 support and opportunities.

Our Family Support Service is available to those who are looking after a young person currently working with our Targeted Support Team. Our dedicated Family Support Worker works closely with multi-agencies on a wide range of issues to improve the emotional wellbeing of parents, carers and young people. Together with the Targeted Support Service our Family Support Service can create a pathway of support and advice for a better way of life for all of the family.

Positive Futures are here to support both young people and families through this difficult time. If you know of someone who would benefit from the support of Positive Futures please email details through to info@positivefutures.org.uk or call 0151 207 6003
Parent and Baby Relationship Service
For families with babies aged conception to 18 months old, who are under social care (EHAT, Child in Need or Safeguarding).

We offer training and consultation to professionals. We offer consultation and therapy to families, some group work and lots of work with individual families. Some evening appointments available, not weekends at present.

The focus of all work is strengthening the parent and baby relationship, helping them understand each other and enjoy each other's company.

To discuss using the service (for professionals or parents/carers) phone 0151 702 5535 or email parentandbaby@pss.org.uk . NB all referrals through the Early Help Hubs at present.
PSS, Prisoner's Families
Prisoner's Families support children and families when they have a parent or close relative, being sentenced, in prison or released from prison. During the current pandemic the service can offer support and advice via telephone, and email/posting any relevant/necessary resources. The service is available from Monday- Friday 9am- 4:30pm. Referrals can be made via emailing your concern to: jessica.schorah@pss.org.uk
PSS - Family Impact
Family Impact supports families who are going through a difficult time because a parent is misusing substances. Emotional support is being provided by telephone to parents who are in recovery, kinship carers (often grandparents) and other family members who are affected by it. Information and guidance on finances, caring for children at home and self-care is also available.

The service operates Monday to Friday 9am - 5:30pm.

Email referrals to: family.impact@pss.org.uk

School Nurse On call 9-5 across the city

Lead School Nurse link with education hubs

Safeguarding statutory duties/welfare calls

Faltering growth clinic by referral only

On call School Nurse support/advice Mon-Fri 9-5

Helpline: 07591837693

If your child has special educational needs and you are wanting to know more on how to support their learning at home then please ring for professional advice, support or practical strategies. Monday: 1pm - 4pm, Wednesday: 9am - 4pm, Friday: 9am - 12pm alternatively, you can email your concern to seniss@liverpool.gov.uk

Helpline: 07540707541

If you need advice or support regarding your child's speech and language then please contact Christine Taylor, Principal Speech and Language Therapist. Tuesday to Friday: 9am - 12pm alternatively, you can email your concern to christine.taylor@liverpool.gov.uk

Parent iag welfare calls

Foodbank vouchers

Yc5 delivery with MYA

Online resources for parents via email /call during covid

Counselling for children and young people via telephone

IAG delivery for young people via telephone

CAB advice on prescription

Self and professional referrals accepted online and via phone and email support@ypas.org.uk
We Are With You Liverpool.
We Are With You (Formally Young Addaction) offer support Drug and Alcohol support and awareness to young people aged 10-18 or up to 24 for young people with additional needs . Working across the city of Liverpool we offer a varied programme of support to all young people and various training to professionals. We Are With You work with all agencies and will accept referrals via professionals, family members and self-referrals.
We Are With You Family Team.
We Are With You also has a family team consisting of family workers who work with parents that are using Drugs or Alcohol in the city, and also support the whole family. The family team works closely with the EHAT and Children's Services to support families and reduce the risk of social care being involved with the family.

Contact - 0151 706 9747

Freephone - 08000196197

Email - YPReferrals@wearewithyou.org.uk

Instagram - wearewithyou_ypliverpool

Twitter - @ypliverpool

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Children, Young People and Families Temporary COVID-19 Service Offer - ALPHABETICAL ORDER Action For Children, Liverpool. We are continuing to deliver our volunteer led family support and youth mentoring service in Liverpool during lockdown. But are not able to take any new referrals.

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A page on the Culture Liverpool site with ideas and support for parenting through Covid-19
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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By Chris Cavanagh, Denise Wright & Kaya Nash (Liverpool City Council, Early Help Team) with contributions from citywide partner organisations.
"If like me, the news of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had you and your family wondering what it means for you all, I totally understand. It is a natural reaction because the way we managed our day-to-day lives and our family life has fundamentally changed. Before you know it normality will be resumed and we can look back and reflect, knowing that Liverpool has come together as a city to work collectively again to help each other.

Terms such as social distancing, self-isolation and social lockdowns have entered our vocabularies and have become part of our normal lives. Other more positive discussions are also emerging around terms such as community, resilience and support.

The long-term implications are not yet known, but as a parent and a professional who supports families, I believe that the support that is offered and information you are able to access can help you get through these times. While keeping children and ourselves healthy and safe is our main concern, it is also essential to address the anxieties of children and young people during these changing times. You will find some ideas to help inform, reassure and keep children and young people safe.

The offer of services to support families and young people in Liverpool continues, this is offered in a different way through telephone and video calls.

My children are all adults now but I think back to the days when we played computer games together, like FIFA on the Playstation. I must admit that as they got older I didn't stand much of a chance of winning, but it was a chance for me to spend time with them and have fun. My generation grew up with console games, maybe this is the time to bring that dusty controller out of retirement and have a game of Mario or FIFA. Just a reminder -FIFA 20 is the current game and it's much slicker than FIFA 98!

Liverpool has always pulled together as a city in times of adversity and it is no different now, our workers are being as innovative as ever to bring together resources to make the time you are spending as a parent as light and fun as possible.

The amazing work by our partner organisations and volunteers across the city highlights that together we will continue supporting people in this city and helping to improve lives.

Within this blog you will find information to support you and your family and we will be posting new information as we receive it."

Local Organisational Support

The Liverpool CAMHS Partnership is adapting as Coronavirus impacts our everyday lives. Our partners are working hard to ensure children, young people and families get the support they need during this time.

You can find out more at liverpoolcamhs.com/support-category/covid-19-support.

Top Tips

To help parents interact constructively with their children during this time of confinement, these six one-page tips for parents cover planning one-on-one time, staying positive, creating a daily routine, avoiding bad behaviour, managing stress, and talking about COVID-19. Use them to your and your kids' advantage, and have fun in doing so.
Tip 1- ONE ON ONE TIME Tip 2- KEEPING IT POSITIVE Tip 3- STRUCTURE UP Tip 4- MANAGING BEHAVIOUR Tip 5- KEEP CALM AND MANAGE STRESS Tip 6- TALKING ABOUT COVID 19
Parenting Guides

These guides are free interactive online parenting guides for parents and families in Liverpool.

The guides are based on real evidence about how babies develop in the womb, through infancy and throughout childhood and adolescence. Liverpool parents, carers and grandparents can learn about the stages their children go through and how to strengthen relationships with them in ways that will have a lasting positive impact on the whole family.

Within these guides, written by the Solihull Approach (NHS), you can find advice and information on:

The amazing and developing brains of babies and children

The importance of playing, singing, reading with your child

Parenting styles and tips

Overcoming challenges with things like behaviour and sleep

The huge value of good communication

If you live in Liverpool* then you are eligible to access these online guides for free. Visit inourplace.co.uk and enter the following access code: PURPLEBIN

Pregnant or New Mums

Home Learning

Parents who may need to work and juggle childcare will feel like they have to fill their children's gap for learning. While no-one expects them to replicate school, there is plenty of online help to stave off boredom.There are lots do arts and craft activities and lots of these help with language, vocabulary and mathematics. Here are some useful websites for home learning ideas:

Remember that while learning is important at this time of unprecedented uncertainty, so are family activities, such as having fun and getting out of the house (where appropriate)...

Make time to play...

Children can learn so much through play. You might not feel like playing much at the moment, but playing can be a great escape and can really help to take your mind off things.

You may want to plan a short play activity for each day, this can really make a difference to your child's mood and behaviour. Playing together can really help prevent problem behaviour which may stem from boredom whilst also maintaining and strengthening family relationships.

Making time to play together also creates even more ideas for playing and can create opportunities to talk about your child's interests or any other worries they might have. Finding a good time in the day to play is important, you might plan to play something after breakfast for younger children to get them in a contented mood for the day, or later in the evening for older children, or as a whole family.

There are lots of games to play outside too while you go on your daily walk, such as 'I Spy', or you could look for rainbows together that children are making and displaying in their windows (and you can even make your own rainbows).

You may want to encourage your children to use apps like Zoom or Skype so they can stay in touch with their friends and family.

Some ideas for playing together...

Play board games together, traditional games like Monopoly, Cluedo, Ludo or games like Connect 4, Checkers, Battleships, Guess Who, Snakes and Ladders and Jenga are fun for two players or more. You might want to invent your own games, lots of games only need paper and pencil, such as Pictionary, where you guess each other's words through drawing, or games such as treasure hunts, where you can make your own clues. Playing card games like Chace the Ace, Snap, or Patience can keep children entertained for a long time (and can really boost mathematical skills).

Start to collect materials for your own art and craft kit, you can collect cardboard boxes, cereal boxes, tin foil, food packaging, buttons, bits of fabric, yoghurt pots, old milk bottles. Add scissors, pencils, paint and glue to your kit (according to your child's age) and these will keep your child amused for hours. You might help young children to make their own book all about them, with their own drawings in, these could be based on one of their favourite topics like Outer Space, Super Hero's, Forests or Magical Kingdoms. Books can happen inside shoe boxes, on cardboard or on paper! Use audiobooks to listen to a story and then write a summary / draw the story. Find out more via the city's FREE Read Liverpool e-reading resource or .

See more about the importance of play and lots of ideas for activities at actionforchildren.org.uk/support-for-parents/things-to-do-with-your-child.

Or visit Creative Bug, which offers craft lessons, from knitting to jewellery-making, drawing and origami: creativebug.com

You may want to learn an instrument, there are plenty of free online sites that teach children to play an instrument. Go to bbc.co.uk/learning/subjects/music.

Play Virtual chess: chess.com/play/computer

Baking together is also a great activity, home-made cakes and biscuits can be a lot tastier and healthier than the ones you buy in the shops and you can control how much sugar goes into them! Join Miranda Gore Brow for lots of ideas for children and adults to bake together: mirandagorebrowne.co.uk/bake-together. Or visit bbc.goodfood.com/recipes or bakingmad.com.

Six Ways to Maintain a Routine

In normal circumstances, it's hard to argue that there is something wonderful about those rare days at home, where you can get up late, stay in your pyjamas and sit around the house without any major commitments to worry about. In the current climate however, finding some sense of routine while at home could be more important than ever.
careforthefamily.org.uk/six-ways-to-maintain-routine-while-at-home
Managing Your Own Wellbeing

There is a wealth of online support available for families and we hope you have been able to access some of this for yourselves.

A whole host of celebrities have removed paywalls to their online classes. These include Joe Wicks, Carol Vorderman, Ben Fogle, Marlene Klauss and other You Tubers your kids will actually have heard of! You may find it useful to build an age and stage appropriate 'timetable' for yourselves and also for families you are working with.

Employment Opportunities

For those of you seeking for work, there are many new opportunities. Did you know that your local children's centre can offer the support you need to help you return to work, such as help with preparing a CV? Call your local centre to find out the many ways they can support you to find or return to work.

For current vacancies (from age sixteen+) please visit Liverpool in Work: liverpoolinwork.co.uk.

Lots of supermarkets have immediate vacancies for store assistants and shelf stackers:

Aldi: Drop CV in store.

B&M: Drop CV in store.

Hospital Cleaners are also wanted immediately, call Census Jobs on 0151 443 6858/6878 or visit censusjobs.co.uk.

Antrec Online Training is offering online packages for taxi and private hire drivers for those age 19+, in receipt of benefits or on low wage. Email [email protected] .

More opportunities can be found at bbc.co.uk/news/business-52040539.

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Parenting Through Covid-19 - Culture Liverpool

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Parenting Through Covid 19 - One city. One Effort. By Chris Cavanagh, Denise Wright & Kaya Nash (Liverpool City Council, Early Help Team) with contributions from citywide partner organisations. "If like me, the news of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has ... Read more...

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Blogs and resources from LivPAC and Liverpool Council to support parents of pupils with SEND
Suitable for settings working with all ages

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Produced by LivPac & Chris Cavanagh (LCC Parenting Co-ordinator)

As Parenting Co-ordinator for Liverpool City Council, I am proud that we can offer parents across the city a platform to share their stories whilst offering resources from across a wide spectrum of organisations to support parents on their journey.

It has been a privilege to pull these SEND blogs and information together and I would like to thank the parents, LivPac and our partners for their support and assistance in piecing this jigsaw of information together.

Chris Cavanagh
Liverpool Parent and Carers Forum (LivPaC) is a group of parents and carers of children and young people with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) who work with education, health and care services to ensure the services they plan and deliver are fit for purpose and meet the needs of children, young people and their families across Liverpool. We have a Steering Group of parent and carer volunteers who lead this work and who actively seek out the experiences and views of parents and carers across Liverpool to make sure we know what is important to them.

We aim to give parents and carers a collective voice and use our experience, knowledge, and feedback from families to help commissioners and providers plan and develop the quality, range and accessibility of services families use.

What we do: Through our participation and co-production, we are working to create a culture across all services which places need of families at the centre of the decision making.

We aim to: Empower parents/carers to have a voice give information to be a collective voice for as many families as possible across Liverpool by providing a forum for views to help develop services work in partnership with a service provider, be supportive and accessible to all families across Liverpool provides examples of good practice, provide informal support, encourage and promote inclusive attitudes and practice.

"Alone, we can do so little. BUT together we CAN do so MUCH"

It is hard to go through COVID-19 with our children/young people in lockdown when they are full of anxiety and worry from not seeing their friends. As a forum, we have been doing three coffee sessions and 3-4 webinars a week with our partners The Isabella Trust, so that parents and carers, have access to tutors and knowing that they are not on their own. Since the beginning of lockdown, we with our partners The Isabella Trust have supported approximately 1600 families and professionals, from all areas of the UK, and we have gone worldwide to such places as Dubai, Bermuda, Cape Town, Nova Scotia and Barcelona.

Blogs

Here, we get the lowdown on lockdown life according to single mother of two neurodiverse children, Natalia Figueroa Castilla. She speaks of the challenges the coronavirus pandemic has presented with regards to her new relationship, setting a routine and spreading her parental care to two children with different needs...

In this blog, Sue Kelly shares her experience in balancing the initial worry between her and her husband having to work from home while teaching three children - each with their own unique needs. She tells us how priorities shifted to maintaining collective mental health and wellbeing during the lockdown.

SEND Resources & Support

COVID-19 Guided Self-help Booklet Series

The University of Glasgow, with assistance from colleagues at Lancaster University and the University of Warwick, has published a series of guided self-help booklets developed to support people with mild to moderate learning/intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Printed versions are available to reach and include people with learning/intellectual disabilities who do not have internet access.
Download the booklet here.
STARS: Coronavirus Resources for Children with Autism

Social Stories present information about coronavirus visually and so are easier to process for autistic children and young people. Choose the Social Story best suited to the child or young person you are working with, you may need to edit it so it is personalised to them.

The symbols provided can be used to create a home Visual Timetable to provide some structure to your child or young person's day.

It may be valuable to use a Talking Mat; a visual scaffold designed to enable children and young people to express their views and concerns.

Try using Worry Plans to address specific worries the child or young person might have. Work together to list personalised strategies to address the worry, record them on the plan and keep it to refer to again.
You can discover the resources at www.starsteam.org.uk/coronavirus-resources.
LD Coronavirus Resources

Information for people with learning disabilities as well as useful things for staff teams and families: sites.google.com/view/learningdisabilitycoronavirus/home.

Emergency planning during the Coronavirus outbreak

Together Matters has written a guide with essential information to help family carers plan to get the support they need during the current crisis.

The guide has information and ideas for:

coping with staying at home

family carer/paid carer becoming ill

their relative becoming ill

their relative going to hospital

It's designed for family carers to use with others, such as wider family, neighbours, friends, support organisations, carers' centres or social workers who can give support with finding solutions and putting practical things in place. Visit www.togethermatters.org.uk/resources-and-information.

Tips on home schooling for families: www.afasic.org.uk/2020/04/tips-on-home-schooling-from-other-parents/.

FOCUS: Bereavement resources

Coronavirus and bereavement - Support for Schools / Settings and Parents / Carers

In the coming months, more children and young people are likely to have experienced bereavement through the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19). This document aims to offer support to schools or settings and parents or carers on how best to support children and young people who have experienced loss during this uncertain time. The document outlines some key practical advice as well as signposting further expertise and resource.

This document has been written by Bracknell Forest EPS in collaboration with Innovate Services and is a valuable support resource in helping to tackle issues surrounding coronavirus and bereavement.

Cruse: Bereavement care including coronavirus dealing with bereavement and grief -
www.cruse.org.uk/get-help/coronavirus-dealing-bereavement-and-grief.

Child Bereavement UK: Help children and young people (up to age 25), parents and families, to rebuild their lives when a child grieves or when a child dies: www.childbereavementuk.org.

Selfcare for Caregivers: The International School Counselor Association is a professional organization, which provides leadership and advocacy for the profession of school counselling in International Schools.

They have come up with a self-care for carers guide, which you can visit here: iscainfo.com/Self-Care-for-Caregivers.

FOCUS: Early Years / SEND resources: The EYSEND Partnership has developed a number of useful resources for settings, which you can view here.

FOCUS: Liverpool SEND Support Groups

Caring for SEND children is equally rewarding and challenging. Quite simply, doing it alone is a difficult task, which is why the LivPac team have created this handy SEND Resources and Support Information document to help find support which will hopefully make life easier for you and the children in your care.

FOCUS: Mental Health support

Calming down worries, for children: Children and parents alike can access Psychology 4 Learning's helpful guide here.

Calming down worries, for adults: Parents and guardians alike can access Psychology 4 Learning's helpful guide here.

Childline: Calm Zone - There are lots of ways to feel calmer. It's about finding what works for our children. They can try some of Childline's breathing exercises, activities, games and videos to help let go of stress by visiting www.childline.org.uk/toolbox/calm-zone.

A menu of activities to structure routine and time: Look after your wellbeing by finding purposeful balance. Most people will find the additional time that they now have difficult to manage because life is ordinarily organised and we are usually so busy. In the current situation, we now have more unstructured time than we may be used to. This activity menu may help you structure your time.

Taking CARE To Promote Mental Health in Schools and Colleges: The CARE animation is a short animation for all school and college staff that recognises the importance of supporting children and young people's mental health in schools and colleges, and offers a simple principle for staff to remember: CARE (Curious, Approachable, Refer, Empathy).
Mindful and relaxation exercises that parents can do with younger children to help with managing anxiety
As well as the above video, Headspace also have some handy tips for helping kids to meditate: www.headspace.com/meditation/kids.

Managing anxiety about the virus as adults

Below is a list of useful resources which can help adults allay Coronavirus-related anxiety:

Anxiety and world news: How to strengthen children & teens against anxiety after news of a world trauma: www.heysigmund.com/anxiety-in-children-after-world-trauma.

How to talk to kids and teens about world trauma: This useful guide can be accessed here: www.heysigmund.com/how-to-talk-to-kids-and-teens-about-world-trauma.

Supporting Students Experiencing Childhood Trauma: Tips for Parents and Educators from the National Association of School Psychologists

This useful guide can be accessed here: www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/mental-health-resources/trauma/supporting-students-experiencing-childhood-trauma-tips-for-parents-and-educators.

FOCUS: Preparing for Adult Life

The key topics to consider as your child moves into adulthood:

Making a plan

Making decisions

Benefits & money

Wills & trusts

Education, health & social care

Getting a job

Independent living & housing

Growing up, sex & relationships

More information can be found at contact.org.uk/advice-and-support/preparing-for-adult-life.

FOCUS: Supporting families during Covid-19

Covid-19: Direct response service: www.wellchild.org.uk/coronavirus/direct-response

Covid-19: An ACT approach to parental burnout:

FOCUS: Supporting children through Covid-19

Information for parents of how to support children through COVID-19:

FOCUS: Transition back to school

Liverpool Learning Partnership: padlet.com/jholder_llp/goingbacktoschool.

The Scott Centre for Autism Treatment - Video sharing tips for the Back to School Transition for Children with Autism:

Babcock LDP Educational Psychology Service: www.babcockldp.co.uk/disadvantaged-vulnerable-learners/educational-psychology/resources/transition-guidance.

Supporting SEND transitions through the Early Years: www.earlyyearscareers.com/eyc/latest-news/supporting-send-transitions-through-the-early-years.
Inclusive resources:
WATCH - The Brain Charity Physiotherapy and Dance:

The Brain Charity are also working on bringing live sessions to children and young people that need these workshops and if you would like to find out more then please email Joanne, the Project Coordinator: [email protected] .

"SEND Toolkit" (an introduction to supporting children with additional needs in the classroom):

1. There is so much information about the SEND Code of practice, but teachers who are unfamiliar with it can start with something simple and easy to read: MENCAP SEND publication

2. The full document can be viewed here: SEND Code of Practice Full Document

3. A useful Youtube video which is good to help young people learn about EHCPs and what it means to them

4. Websites for classroom resources that are well set out and 'chunked' for SEND support: & SENteacher

5. P scales information on the TES website

6. A useful document looking at each subject separately for Secondary / KS3&4

7. All about different types of SEND: www.humansnotrobots.co.uk/p/resources-hub.html

8. Visual timetables - a variety of symbol based resources for Primary students

Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities

Supporting Students with Autism

Webinars, social stories and tips for parents supporting children with Autism during Covid-19 - ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Supporting-students-with-Autism.pdf

Families everywhere are struggling to care for (and homeschool) children cut off from their normal routines and activities during the coronavirus crisis. Kids with ADHD may need extra structure and support to manage attention and behaviour challenges and keep on track with learning in this challenging situation. This article provides suggestions from ADHD experts for helping kids with ADHD weather this storm: childmind.org/article/giving-kids-with-adhd-support-and-structure-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/#163961_20200415095626.

Support

Partner Websites

Website and activity ideas
A Twitter stream sharing Found Resources and home learning packs that would be suitable for SEND pupils: twitter.com/teachPMLD/status/1240369135885975554/photo/1 50 sensory learning activities: inclusiveteach.com/2020/03/20/150-sensory-learning-ideas
Activities including sensory and massage stories themed for the time of year:
Download here via Dropbox
GoNoodle - videos designed to get kids moving: www.gonoodle.com Twinkl - free home learning booklets from EYFS through to GCSE, you can download them here: www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/extra-subjects-parents/school-closures-category-free-resources-parents/school-closures-free-resources-parents
Other Useful Resources

Children coming to hospital

This resource aims to make hospital visits better for children. The resource is made up of an animation and comic strip for children and young people, an animation for health professionals and a leaflet for parent/carers. View it here.

Epilepsy toolkit

Developed in partnership with Epilepsy Action, SUDEP Action and Young Epilepsy, this Epilepsy Toolkit will support systems to understand the priorities in epilepsy care and key actions to take. It provides opportunity to assess and benchmark current systems to find opportunities for improvement. It is produced with reference to an expert group of stakeholders and is supported by NICE. You can access the toolkit via the NHS Rightcare Pathways web page: www.england.nhs.uk/rightcare/products/pathways/epilepsy-toolkit.

Top 3 'misc' useful resources

1. Coronavirus Tech Handbook: The current biggest compilation of information, support and resources (It is HUGE!): coronavirustechhandbook.com

2. A huge summary of working from home resources www.notion.so/Digital-Working-COVID

3. A simple social story explaining the coronavirus: carolgraysocialstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Pandemics-and-theCoronavirus.pdf

Top 5 COVID-19 explanation and support resources

1. A huge home learning resource list - chatterpack.net/blogs/blog/resources-list-for-home-learning

2. Supporting children and young people with COVID-19 worries: wokingmind.org.uk/mental-health-conditions-information-resources/coronavirus-your-wellbeing

3. MIND Coronavirus and your wellbeing: www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus/coronavirus-and-your-wellbeing

4. 9 ways to stay positive during the pandemic: www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2020/03/15/9-ways-to-stay-positive-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic

5. BBC Newsround Coronavirus information for children www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51204456

6. Here, you will find new SEND Guidance videos from nasen/Whole School SEND: www.sendgateway.org.uk/whole-school-send/find-wss-resources/nqt-videos.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Produced by LivPac & Chris Cavanagh (LCC Parenting Co-ordinator) As Parenting Co-ordinator for Liverpool City Council, I am proud that we can offer parents across the city a platform to share their stories whilst offering resources from across a wide ... Read more...

# data[].attributes.body
Blogs and resources from LivPAC and Liverpool Council to support parents of pupils with SEND
Suitable for settings working with all ages

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Produced by LivPac & Chris Cavanagh (LCC Parenting Co-ordinator)

As Parenting Co-ordinator for Liverpool City Council, I am proud that we can offer parents across the city a platform to share their stories whilst offering resources from across a wide spectrum of organisations to support parents on their journey.

It has been a privilege to pull these SEND blogs and information together and I would like to thank the parents, LivPac and our partners for their support and assistance in piecing this jigsaw of information together.

Chris Cavanagh
Liverpool Parent and Carers Forum (LivPaC) is a group of parents and carers of children and young people with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) who work with education, health and care services to ensure the services they plan and deliver are fit for purpose and meet the needs of children, young people and their families across Liverpool. We have a Steering Group of parent and carer volunteers who lead this work and who actively seek out the experiences and views of parents and carers across Liverpool to make sure we know what is important to them.

We aim to give parents and carers a collective voice and use our experience, knowledge, and feedback from families to help commissioners and providers plan and develop the quality, range and accessibility of services families use.

What we do: Through our participation and co-production, we are working to create a culture across all services which places need of families at the centre of the decision making.

We aim to: Empower parents/carers to have a voice give information to be a collective voice for as many families as possible across Liverpool by providing a forum for views to help develop services work in partnership with a service provider, be supportive and accessible to all families across Liverpool provides examples of good practice, provide informal support, encourage and promote inclusive attitudes and practice.

"Alone, we can do so little. BUT together we CAN do so MUCH"

It is hard to go through COVID-19 with our children/young people in lockdown when they are full of anxiety and worry from not seeing their friends. As a forum, we have been doing three coffee sessions and 3-4 webinars a week with our partners The Isabella Trust, so that parents and carers, have access to tutors and knowing that they are not on their own. Since the beginning of lockdown, we with our partners The Isabella Trust have supported approximately 1600 families and professionals, from all areas of the UK, and we have gone worldwide to such places as Dubai, Bermuda, Cape Town, Nova Scotia and Barcelona.

Blogs

Here, we get the lowdown on lockdown life according to single mother of two neurodiverse children, Natalia Figueroa Castilla. She speaks of the challenges the coronavirus pandemic has presented with regards to her new relationship, setting a routine and spreading her parental care to two children with different needs...

In this blog, Sue Kelly shares her experience in balancing the initial worry between her and her husband having to work from home while teaching three children - each with their own unique needs. She tells us how priorities shifted to maintaining collective mental health and wellbeing during the lockdown.

SEND Resources & Support

COVID-19 Guided Self-help Booklet Series

The University of Glasgow, with assistance from colleagues at Lancaster University and the University of Warwick, has published a series of guided self-help booklets developed to support people with mild to moderate learning/intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Printed versions are available to reach and include people with learning/intellectual disabilities who do not have internet access.
Download the booklet here.
STARS: Coronavirus Resources for Children with Autism

Social Stories present information about coronavirus visually and so are easier to process for autistic children and young people. Choose the Social Story best suited to the child or young person you are working with, you may need to edit it so it is personalised to them.

The symbols provided can be used to create a home Visual Timetable to provide some structure to your child or young person's day.

It may be valuable to use a Talking Mat; a visual scaffold designed to enable children and young people to express their views and concerns.

Try using Worry Plans to address specific worries the child or young person might have. Work together to list personalised strategies to address the worry, record them on the plan and keep it to refer to again.
You can discover the resources at www.starsteam.org.uk/coronavirus-resources.
LD Coronavirus Resources

Information for people with learning disabilities as well as useful things for staff teams and families: sites.google.com/view/learningdisabilitycoronavirus/home.

Emergency planning during the Coronavirus outbreak

Together Matters has written a guide with essential information to help family carers plan to get the support they need during the current crisis.

The guide has information and ideas for:

coping with staying at home

family carer/paid carer becoming ill

their relative becoming ill

their relative going to hospital

It's designed for family carers to use with others, such as wider family, neighbours, friends, support organisations, carers' centres or social workers who can give support with finding solutions and putting practical things in place. Visit www.togethermatters.org.uk/resources-and-information.

Tips on home schooling for families: www.afasic.org.uk/2020/04/tips-on-home-schooling-from-other-parents/.

FOCUS: Bereavement resources

Coronavirus and bereavement - Support for Schools / Settings and Parents / Carers

In the coming months, more children and young people are likely to have experienced bereavement through the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19). This document aims to offer support to schools or settings and parents or carers on how best to support children and young people who have experienced loss during this uncertain time. The document outlines some key practical advice as well as signposting further expertise and resource.

This document has been written by Bracknell Forest EPS in collaboration with Innovate Services and is a valuable support resource in helping to tackle issues surrounding coronavirus and bereavement.

Cruse: Bereavement care including coronavirus dealing with bereavement and grief -
www.cruse.org.uk/get-help/coronavirus-dealing-bereavement-and-grief.

Child Bereavement UK: Help children and young people (up to age 25), parents and families, to rebuild their lives when a child grieves or when a child dies: www.childbereavementuk.org.

Selfcare for Caregivers: The International School Counselor Association is a professional organization, which provides leadership and advocacy for the profession of school counselling in International Schools.

They have come up with a self-care for carers guide, which you can visit here: iscainfo.com/Self-Care-for-Caregivers.

FOCUS: Early Years / SEND resources: The EYSEND Partnership has developed a number of useful resources for settings, which you can view here.

FOCUS: Liverpool SEND Support Groups

Caring for SEND children is equally rewarding and challenging. Quite simply, doing it alone is a difficult task, which is why the LivPac team have created this handy SEND Resources and Support Information document to help find support which will hopefully make life easier for you and the children in your care.

FOCUS: Mental Health support

Calming down worries, for children: Children and parents alike can access Psychology 4 Learning's helpful guide here.

Calming down worries, for adults: Parents and guardians alike can access Psychology 4 Learning's helpful guide here.

Childline: Calm Zone - There are lots of ways to feel calmer. It's about finding what works for our children. They can try some of Childline's breathing exercises, activities, games and videos to help let go of stress by visiting www.childline.org.uk/toolbox/calm-zone.

A menu of activities to structure routine and time: Look after your wellbeing by finding purposeful balance. Most people will find the additional time that they now have difficult to manage because life is ordinarily organised and we are usually so busy. In the current situation, we now have more unstructured time than we may be used to. This activity menu may help you structure your time.

Taking CARE To Promote Mental Health in Schools and Colleges: The CARE animation is a short animation for all school and college staff that recognises the importance of supporting children and young people's mental health in schools and colleges, and offers a simple principle for staff to remember: CARE (Curious, Approachable, Refer, Empathy).
Mindful and relaxation exercises that parents can do with younger children to help with managing anxiety
As well as the above video, Headspace also have some handy tips for helping kids to meditate: www.headspace.com/meditation/kids.

Managing anxiety about the virus as adults

Below is a list of useful resources which can help adults allay Coronavirus-related anxiety:

Anxiety and world news: How to strengthen children & teens against anxiety after news of a world trauma: www.heysigmund.com/anxiety-in-children-after-world-trauma.

How to talk to kids and teens about world trauma: This useful guide can be accessed here: www.heysigmund.com/how-to-talk-to-kids-and-teens-about-world-trauma.

Supporting Students Experiencing Childhood Trauma: Tips for Parents and Educators from the National Association of School Psychologists

This useful guide can be accessed here: www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/mental-health-resources/trauma/supporting-students-experiencing-childhood-trauma-tips-for-parents-and-educators.

FOCUS: Preparing for Adult Life

The key topics to consider as your child moves into adulthood:

Making a plan

Making decisions

Benefits & money

Wills & trusts

Education, health & social care

Getting a job

Independent living & housing

Growing up, sex & relationships

More information can be found at contact.org.uk/advice-and-support/preparing-for-adult-life.

FOCUS: Supporting families during Covid-19

Covid-19: Direct response service: www.wellchild.org.uk/coronavirus/direct-response

Covid-19: An ACT approach to parental burnout:

FOCUS: Supporting children through Covid-19

Information for parents of how to support children through COVID-19:

FOCUS: Transition back to school

Liverpool Learning Partnership: padlet.com/jholder_llp/goingbacktoschool.

The Scott Centre for Autism Treatment - Video sharing tips for the Back to School Transition for Children with Autism:

Babcock LDP Educational Psychology Service: www.babcockldp.co.uk/disadvantaged-vulnerable-learners/educational-psychology/resources/transition-guidance.

Supporting SEND transitions through the Early Years: www.earlyyearscareers.com/eyc/latest-news/supporting-send-transitions-through-the-early-years.
Inclusive resources:
WATCH - The Brain Charity Physiotherapy and Dance:

The Brain Charity are also working on bringing live sessions to children and young people that need these workshops and if you would like to find out more then please email Joanne, the Project Coordinator: [email protected] .

"SEND Toolkit" (an introduction to supporting children with additional needs in the classroom):

1. There is so much information about the SEND Code of practice, but teachers who are unfamiliar with it can start with something simple and easy to read: MENCAP SEND publication

2. The full document can be viewed here: SEND Code of Practice Full Document

3. A useful Youtube video which is good to help young people learn about EHCPs and what it means to them

4. Websites for classroom resources that are well set out and 'chunked' for SEND support: & SENteacher

5. P scales information on the TES website

6. A useful document looking at each subject separately for Secondary / KS3&4

7. All about different types of SEND: www.humansnotrobots.co.uk/p/resources-hub.html

8. Visual timetables - a variety of symbol based resources for Primary students

Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities

Supporting Students with Autism

Webinars, social stories and tips for parents supporting children with Autism during Covid-19 - ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Supporting-students-with-Autism.pdf

Families everywhere are struggling to care for (and homeschool) children cut off from their normal routines and activities during the coronavirus crisis. Kids with ADHD may need extra structure and support to manage attention and behaviour challenges and keep on track with learning in this challenging situation. This article provides suggestions from ADHD experts for helping kids with ADHD weather this storm: childmind.org/article/giving-kids-with-adhd-support-and-structure-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/#163961_20200415095626.

Support

Partner Websites

Website and activity ideas
A Twitter stream sharing Found Resources and home learning packs that would be suitable for SEND pupils: twitter.com/teachPMLD/status/1240369135885975554/photo/1 50 sensory learning activities: inclusiveteach.com/2020/03/20/150-sensory-learning-ideas
Activities including sensory and massage stories themed for the time of year:
Download here via Dropbox
GoNoodle - videos designed to get kids moving: www.gonoodle.com Twinkl - free home learning booklets from EYFS through to GCSE, you can download them here: www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/extra-subjects-parents/school-closures-category-free-resources-parents/school-closures-free-resources-parents
Other Useful Resources

Children coming to hospital

This resource aims to make hospital visits better for children. The resource is made up of an animation and comic strip for children and young people, an animation for health professionals and a leaflet for parent/carers. View it here.

Epilepsy toolkit

Developed in partnership with Epilepsy Action, SUDEP Action and Young Epilepsy, this Epilepsy Toolkit will support systems to understand the priorities in epilepsy care and key actions to take. It provides opportunity to assess and benchmark current systems to find opportunities for improvement. It is produced with reference to an expert group of stakeholders and is supported by NICE. You can access the toolkit via the NHS Rightcare Pathways web page: www.england.nhs.uk/rightcare/products/pathways/epilepsy-toolkit.

Top 3 'misc' useful resources

1. Coronavirus Tech Handbook: The current biggest compilation of information, support and resources (It is HUGE!): coronavirustechhandbook.com

2. A huge summary of working from home resources www.notion.so/Digital-Working-COVID

3. A simple social story explaining the coronavirus: carolgraysocialstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Pandemics-and-theCoronavirus.pdf

Top 5 COVID-19 explanation and support resources

1. A huge home learning resource list - chatterpack.net/blogs/blog/resources-list-for-home-learning

2. Supporting children and young people with COVID-19 worries: wokingmind.org.uk/mental-health-conditions-information-resources/coronavirus-your-wellbeing

3. MIND Coronavirus and your wellbeing: www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus/coronavirus-and-your-wellbeing

4. 9 ways to stay positive during the pandemic: www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2020/03/15/9-ways-to-stay-positive-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic

5. BBC Newsround Coronavirus information for children www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51204456

6. Here, you will find new SEND Guidance videos from nasen/Whole School SEND: www.sendgateway.org.uk/whole-school-send/find-wss-resources/nqt-videos.html

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Produced by LivPac & Chris Cavanagh (LCC Parenting Co-ordinator) As Parenting Co-ordinator for Liverpool City Council, I am proud that we can offer parents across the city a platform to share their stories whilst offering resources from across a wide ... Read more...

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Information on Independent Travel Training for pupils with SEND

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Information on Independent Travel Training for pupils with SEND

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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The training is designed to increase a young person's confidence, independence, self-esteem and wellbeing. Areas covered in the sessions include planning a journey, understanding personal community and road safety, learning walking routes, using timetables and visual aids, asking for help and using money.

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The training is designed to increase a young person's confidence, independence, self-esteem and wellbeing. Areas covered in the sessions include planning a journey, understanding personal community and road safety, learning walking routes, using timetables and visual aids, asking for help and using money.

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A video to support parents/carers of children who will be starting in Reception in September. On Youtube, you can find the video in English, Urdu, Sylheti, Somali and Polish.
Suitable for families with children about to start Reception

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We're pleased to share this short-animated film, in English, Urdu, Sylheti, Somali and Polish, for parents to help prepare their early years children for starting school, which we've made as part of our project.

The film features 10 simple things that all parents can teach their child to do at home before starting reception; from wiping and blowing their own nose, to dressing themselves and going to the toilet independently. Anyone who has tried to persuade a four-year-old to get dressed on their own in the morning knows that these things are by no means simple! However, if children start reception with these skills, then the transition to school is much easier, for both children and families, and other learning can start much more quickly.

This is particularly important given that as a recent report from the Education Endowment Fund (EEF) has shown - school closures over lockdown will have widened the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers, likely reversing progress made over the last decade.

The EEF report makes it clear that schools engaging and communicating effectively with parents will be a key part in supporting the children most likely to fall behind - and that this communication from schools will play an important role in academic outcomes for all ages.

This will be important in helping parents and carers to understand specific ways to help their children, to alleviate worries about their child falling behind, and to provide accessible guidance on small things that may be helpful for their child to focus on learning at home.
We work to do this through this short film through:

Offering accessible advice - presented through graphics and simple messaging. Many parents will not speak in English so sending long home letters will be ineffective and stressful for parents who want to understand how they can support their child.

Translating the film into different languages so families can easily follow along.

Providing a poster version of the film so that this can be shared with families who don't have the internet at home - and to provide a helpful visual aid for children.

Lockdown has been a challenging time for all parents and carers and small children, and as Public Health England's report showed this week, the pandemic has impacted some communities far worse than others. The disproportionate impact of coronavirus on black and brown communities specifically has highlighted longstanding inequalities that these communities face in health, housing, education and employment, and shone a light on structural racism in the UK. This combination of inequalities means that the mental wellbeing and physical health of many parents and children has suffered considerably during lockdown. In this context, how schools communicate with families becomes more important than ever.

We've developed this film in partnership with primary school in Newham. We hope that it will be useful for lots of primary schools and families in light of the many challenges that lockdown has brought for families and children preparing to start school next year.

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Supporting families at home - early years animated film

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We're pleased to share this short-animated film, in English, Urdu, Sylheti, Somali and Polish, for parents to help prepare their early years children for starting school, which we've made as part of our Schools with Roots project.

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Discussion Guide: Rain Before Rainbows- Smriti Halls and David Litchfield

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Discussion Guide: Rain Before Rainbows- Smriti Halls and David Litchfield

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Ideas for discussion and activities based upon Rain Before Rainbows.  Would be suitable for mixed age groups.
Suitable for settings working with Primary aged pupils

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Anxiety and Worries: Shared Worry Activity

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Anxiety and Worries: Shared Worry Activity

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A resource to accompany the Returning To School journals

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Anxiety and Worries: Lesson Ideas and Resources

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Anxiety and Worries: Lesson Ideas and Resources

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Ideas to help accompany the activities in the journal

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Trauma and Recovery: What's In Your Bucket? (Staff Activity)

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Trauma and Recovery: What's In Your Bucket? (Staff Activity)

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A resource to accompany the Returning To School journals

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A resource to accompany the Returning To School journals

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A resource to accompany the Returning To School journals

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A resource to accompany the Returning To School journals

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KS2 Returning To School Journal Staff Guide

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KS2 Returning To School Journal Staff Guide

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A staff guide to accompany the KS2 journal

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KS1 Returning To School Journal Staff Guide

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KS1 Returning To School Journal Staff Guide

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A staff guide to accompany the KS1 journal

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A journal to support children's reflections and thinking about their mental health and emotional wellbeing.

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A journal to support children's reflections and thinking about their mental health and emotional wellbeing.

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Books To Share With Pupils When They Return To School

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Books To Share With Pupils When They Return To School

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A list of 40 picture books from Books For Topics of books to share with pupils as part of a recovery curriculum
Suitable for settings working with Primary aged pupils

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Booksfortopics: Picture books to share with children returning to school

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Picture books to support children in the phased return to classrooms in June, covering themes of worries, handwashing, resilience, coronavirus, bereavement, happiness, following rules, fear, hope and laughter.

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Place To Be Community Recovery Resources

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Place To Be Community Recovery Resources

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Place2Be has put together a series of resources focused on community recovery, to help headteachers and school staff start to bring their schools back together following recent challenging times.

Drawing on themes including hope, gratitude and connectedness, these assembly and class activity ideas are intended as a universal resource for all children, and staff are invited to use them as starting points to promote emotional wellbeing and resilience for all.

Suitable for settings working with all ages.

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Place2Be has put together a series of resources focused on community recovery, to help headteachers and school staff start to bring their schools back together following recent challenging times.

Drawing on themes including hope, gratitude and connectedness, these assembly and class activity ideas are intended as a universal resource for all children, and staff are invited to use them as starting points to promote emotional wellbeing and resilience for all.

News & blogs

Place2Be and Hive Learning win at the 2022 Learning Technologies Awards

Our Mental Health Champions - Foundation programme won 'Best learning technologies project - public & non-profit sector'.

Read more

Children visit GCHQ for a very special lesson

Children from St Margaret's CofE Primary School had the rare opportunity to step inside the walls of GCHQ's top secret base.

Read more

Children's Mental Health Week 2023: resources available now

With less than 3 months until the week, we're excited to release our free resources to help everyone get involved.

Read more

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Drawing on themes including hope, gratitude and connectedness, these assembly and class activity ideas are intended as a universal resource for all children, and staff are invited to use them as starting points to promote emotional wellbeing and resilience for all.

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Online Resources and Apps To Help Children With Anxiety

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Online Resources and Apps To Help Children With Anxiety

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Children are as prone to feeling stress and the pressures of their day-to-day just as much as adults.

The demands of school achievement, the complexities of making and keeping friends, the worries of starting at new schools - we may dismiss them now with time, but we've all felt them at some stage in our lives.

Here you'll find our top apps for anxiety for children, children's anxiety books, and tools recommended by experts to help your child cope with their worries.

Our number one anxiety-relief tool is Yogiamo's weekly newsletter for stress relief tips along with a featured yoga pose to maintain balance and mindfulness.

Anxiety Relief Apps for Children

Kids Yoga Deck

With yoga now seemingly a staple of a world trying to lessen stress, why not extend the knowledge to children who want to join in?

Kids Yoga Deck helps children reduce their stress. Yoga includes breathing exercises, coping techniques, and leaves people more focused for the days and weeks ahead. The results are visible immediately, so loosen up and give it a try!

Download now: Apple

Smiling Mind

Smiling Mind is a not-for-profit organisation that dedicates itself to spreading mindfulness to everybody who needs it. Their vision is to "help every mind thrive".

One particularly useful tool to this end is their free app! The Smiling Mind app offers guided meditation and tonnes of modules for people in all stages of their life, from early school days to adult life. The app has been developed by psychologists and experts in education to help make it as relevant and meaningful as possible.

Again, it's free, so download it today and see what benefits it brings you and your child!

Download now: Apple, Android

Positive Penguins

Positive Penguins is an app that teaches children when to recognise negative thinking and helps them reframe it into something more positive.

Challenging negative thoughts is the basis of popular therapy techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy. With the help of this app, kids learn that stress and negative feelings come from within, and are made up in our own heads.

Positive Penguins is based on research into the cognitive habits that the majority of us form in our daily lives and how optimism can help us to better psychological health and wellbeing. If your child struggles with stress and anxiety that tends to spiral and worsen, this is a must-have app.

Download now: Apple, Android

Super Stretch Yoga

Super Stretch Yoga teaches kids a variety of useful yoga poses through the use of animated, colourful characters!

There are twelve poses to choose from, with a whole cast of characters to guide kids as they learn and copy. Check our recommended yoga mats, yoga clothes, and yoga essentials.

Not only does yoga promote healthiness and physical wellbeing, it can also help to tame the symptoms of conditions such as ADHD by teaching children to be more focused and in control of themselves.

Parents can learn right alongside and practice the poses at the same time, so why not unwind together and make some quality bonding time?

Download now: Apple

Relax Melodies

Relax Melodies is the product of app developers Ipnos, and it has over 30 million users benefiting from its sleep-enhancing results.

Ipnos strive to create innovative apps that focus on relaxation and aid users in meditation. Relax Melodies is available in 10 languages and has over 100 ambient sounds. The way it works is by guiding meditation to create a relaxing bedtime routine that will soothe you into a satisfying, deeper sleep.

Lots of young children can struggle when it comes to settling down for sleep and can often wake in the night. This can be distressing to deal with for parents and often takes a lot of patience, but experts recommend a consistent bedtime routine involving calming activities before sleep. Relax Melodies can help with this, and maybe you can even meditate together!

Download now: Apple

Bedtime Meditations for Kids

This free app contains a number of children's bedtime stories by a collection of best-selling authors including Glenn Harrold, Christiane Kerr, Heather Bestel and Jan Yoxall.

It includes three bedtime meditations for free, with plenty more available as in-app purchases. The guided meditations suit a range of ages and help with restful, fulfilling sleep that will help the child or young person enjoy greater focus, concentration, creativity and a slew of other benefits.

Each entry to the app has subtle sounds and music to help build a relaxing, calming atmosphere and lull the user into serenity. Since you can start off for free, it's definitely worth a quick download and try before you buy!

Download now: Apple

TanZen

TanZen is a game made by developer Little White Bear Studios, comprising of tangram puzzles designed to be relaxing and engrossing.

The app includes over 550 individual puzzles, and only costs $0.99! There is also a free version with around 50 puzzles to choose from. Relaxing games such as TanZen are ideal for an activity to wind down before bed, equal to reading a book, and they put your mind to ease.

There is always the free version if you're not keen on the idea of spending money on it just yet, so grab the free download and see what a few puzzles before bed does for your relaxation!

Download now: Apple

Mekorama

Mekorama is an awesome game where you help a small robot find his way home!

The game's art style presents the levels like tiny mechanical dioramas, with a thoroughly charming aesthetic that draws you in instantly. There are 50 levels to explore in the game with thousands of fan-made levels as well. You can even make your own!

The gameplay is relaxing and soothing and it utterly drips with charm, making it an ideal little game to play before bed or when your child needs a distraction from stresses. Best of all, the game is completely free to download! Try for as long as you like and pay whatever you think it's worth!

Download now: Apple, Android

Rain Sounds

Just one of the apps developed by Relaxio, Rain Sounds is exactly what it appears!

It comprises a collection of different rain sounds designed to be played continuously and softly in the background to soothe and relax. The sound of rain is a relaxing experience for many people, with several websites existing to play the sounds of rainfall behind music or in the background.

Relaxio also have apps for nature sounds, meditation music, gentle lullabies and more! If your kids need some relaxing white noise to help carry them off to sleep or to distract them from the stressful sounds of civilisation, this app is ideal, maybe even with a pair of earphones to help drown out the outside world for a while!

Monument Valley (1 & 2)

The Monument Valley games have won a slew of awards across both of their entries, and it's easy to see why! The first Monument Valley was Apple Game of the Year 2014, and the second game presents a brand-new adventure in a stunningly beautiful setting.

In the game, the player must help Ro teach her child about the mysteries of the valley, exploring gorgeous environments and manipulating the game world to progress. The games stand separate from each other and there's no need to play the first in order to understand and enjoy the second.

The colourful, artistic game world with the beautiful music is a fantastic way to unwind when you're facing a stressful day, and this is the perfect addition to your arsenal of relaxing games for your kids! Find out more and see what you think!

Download now: Apple, Android

Antistress Relaxation Toys

Moreno Maio has been making apps and games since discovering Unity 3D. They managed to grab an Apple license in 2017, so all of their works are available for free download both on Google Play and the App Store.

Moreno's works include Antistress, an app that gives a selection of relaxation toys to fiddle with such as a Newton's cradle, wind chimes, lotus pond, and more! In fact, there are 34 different toys to play with! Each one has a satisfying interactive element to help you unwind and give you a convenient way to destress for free!

Download now: Apple, Android

Deep Relax

Deep Relax is the work of Advait Saravade, a second year engineering undergrad studying at the University of British Colombia. The app harnesses the power of Yoga Nidra, meaning yogic sleep, to help you drift off quickly and effortlessly.

Advait on the ethos of the app: "Whether you work as a doctor, teacher, lawyer, student or as any other profession, your work lifestyle can be stressful. The way you deal with it is essential to maintaining a healthy and balanced life. The idea for Deep Relax came from the question - "Which is the best way to actually deal with stress?"

When you finish a stressful day at work, join your child let the app guide you to deep relaxation!

Download now: Android

Atmosphere

Atmosphere is a wonderful relaxing sounds app, based on different environments. Choose your favourites and combine them to create your perfect backing track to unwind!

Getting out into nature and away from urban noise is a great break for kids, but we don't all have the capability - be it lack of transport, time, money or anything else, getting to take a break away from it all isn't always feasible.

With an app like Atmosphere, kids can still drown out the noise of the world outside and just feel like they have some time to be on their own and relax for a while, which can make all the difference in the world during a stressful exam week!

Nature Sounds by Audiojoy

Audiojoy is a website and app company with tonnes of content available, with over 10,000 hours of self-help content. The platform has over 100 unique topics from publishers all around the world, covering all kinds of subjects including fitness and relaxation, health and wellness, personal development, lifestyle, and much more!

Nature Sounds has over 10 hours of sounds from nature including wind, ocean, rain, water, thunderstorms and much more. You can even use the built-in timer to build a daily practice and allow your child to master the art of meditation!

Download now: Apple, Android

Orbia

Orbia is a timing-based game that tests your ability to overcome moving obstacles in a colourful world with a beautiful art style.

There are hundreds of levels across vibrant worlds, and each character has a bunch of unique skins to collect! The game is backed by wonderful music and satisfying sounds, and is the perfect way to settle down into a cosy nook and relax with a minimalistic game that distracts you.

Perfect for kids thanks to its simple gameplay and the ability to compete against friends! Being able to play with others is a great distraction from stresses in the day, so this one is definitely worth a download.

Download now: Apple, Android

Moshi Twilight

Moshi Twilight is modelled after the characters of the popular Moshi Monsters franchise and is packed with stories that lull children to sleep with soothing audio and calming narration to help create a peaceful atmosphere.

The app is free and has the backing of expert advice, such as sleep expert and psychologist Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan and sleep specialist Kate Bridle of Sleep HQ.

The app is certified kid safe and completely safe to leave with your kids if they need privacy to really drift off to sleep, so if your young ones struggle to settle at night, give Moshi Twilight a go and see what the praise is about!

Make bedtime effortless: Apple, Android

Mindfulness for Children

Mindfulness for Children teaches mindfulness meditation that helps develop a sense of well-being, peace, and focus in their daily lives.

Through breathing exercises and visualisations, children are guided in the process and eventually will know the process enough to conduct it themselves unaided. The app was created in Denmark by psychomotor therapist Pia Holgerson, as many schools in Denmark use meditations with a great rate of success in promoting mindfulness in children.

Mindfulness training has been shown to suppress the symptoms of ADHD in some children, and it is perfect for teaching them to focus on their feelings and improve their mental wellbeing.

Download now: Apple, Android

Fear Tools

Fear Tools comprises features that act as metrics and solutions to anxiety and stress, such as a questionnaire to track the severity of symptoms over time and a thought diary to elaborate on mental processes and help reframe them.

There is also a paced breathing tool to provide a focus for self-calming, for when things get overwhelming and the user needs a physical action to guide breathing and calm down. This app is the perfect tool for children who are prone to panic and quick-mounting stress, and the thought diary is ideal for parents to revisit and read along with their child to reflect back and discuss.

Download now: Apple

Relax Sounds has a healthy library of relaxing noises such as rain, storms, distant thunder, waves, coffee shop ambiance and much more!

You can also add your own sounds and music to the app to add to its already-vast library and expand its potential even further. If your kids have a favourite song or sound, you can combine it with others in the app and make it perfect for their own unique relaxation.

There's also a timer to make the audio fade out after a certain amount of time, ideal to ensure that it quietens down once the user falls asleep.

Download now: Android

Coloring Book for Me

Coloring Book for Me by Apalon Apps is a great little stress reliever to have in your pocket to take anywhere!

The 'book' is filled with intricate and detailed designs, such as patterns, animals, places, flowers, and much more! You can even transform photos from your device into sketches for you to colour and draw over! Use the textures of pencils, crayons and paintbrushes to colour, all with no mess and no set up, anywhere you like.

Perfect for kids who need a colourful, interactive distraction to counter stress and overcome difficult emotions.

Download now: Apple, Android

HappiMe

HappiMe is a non-profit, free app for children and young people that aims to raise self-esteem and happiness. It teaches the power of positive thinking and how to frame your thoughts in a more helpful and productive manner. It's also free for children and young ones!

The app is informed by expert opinion and addresses the stages of learning how to identify and overcome your own negative thoughts. Experts say that most of our self-beliefs are formed by the time we are around the ages of 6 and 7 years old!

Using techniques rooted in cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness techniques, it teaches children to discard thoughts that only serve to bring them down and instead choose to listen to the good thoughts! Giving kids the knowledge to recognise negative thoughts and remove them is a powerful thing indeed, so take a look at the app!

Download now: Apple, Android

Kids World

Kids World is the perfect companion to the other apps on this list, and is a fantastic idea for parents of young children who want to share their smart device but want to establish the right attitude for playing in moderation and not getting addicted.

Kids World has features such as a timer that closes the chosen app after a certain amount of time elapses, making it easier to persuade your child to hand the phone back. It also blocks ads and in-app purchases, and stops the child being able to exit the app in order to protect your data.

This app is ideal for protecting your child while they use your phone, for example, if you're driving or unable to supervise them for a short amount of time.

Download now: Android

Strong Minds

Strong Minds is an interesting app that helps kids to find their feelings. It helps them narrow down to any of 35 feelings or emotions, and they are shown a facial expression and definition. They are then given prompts to think about, and are then allowed to write about that feeling.

This app is ideal for children who deal with stress and anxiety but are unable to accurately or reliably portray how they truly feel. Guiding them in this way may help parents understand how their children really feel emotions and how to progress and overcome the negative ones.

If your child is still struggling with how to describe their feelings, this app is absolutely ideal to guide them and learn some confidence!

Download now: Android

Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame

Here we have perhaps the most recognisable name in kids' entertainment and learning.

There are five scenarios for kids to make their way through, and while they may breeze through them fairly quickly, each one is replayable and is still worthy of revisiting. The app also features a parent's section, which has free resources that parents will surely want to browse including helpful tips and videos to watch with your child to help them de-stress.

You can also personalise the audio messages played to the child and they can be changed between English and Spanish. Finally, the app is completely free, so why not make it a quick download and take a look around?

Download now: Apple, Android

Breath of Light

Breath of Light is the work of Many Monkeys studio, and every facet of the game is designed to be a relaxing, soothing experience from start to finish.

In Breath of Light, the player connects white lotuses by transferring living energy to join them together. This is guided by rearranging mystical stones in an ethereal zen garden setting that draws the player in and doesn't urge them to act quickly or keep score. The game is pure relaxation and meditation.

The soundtrack is designed with the same ethos and is even available to listen to on its own! For something simple for your kid that won't make them feel incapable or like they can 'lose', look no further than Breath of Light!

Download now: Apple

My Oasis

My Oasis is the work of Korean developers Buff Studio, and they describe it as a game 'created for people who need a break from life'.

My Oasis contains no content designed to stress the player, giving you an oasis in a zen environment and calming atmosphere. The oasis gradually expands and grows as the player interacts with the surrounding life. It's an idle clicker game, meaning it progresses without the need for constant player input.

Use certain musical chords to change the weather and alter your oasis as you see fit! My Oasis is designed to relieve stress and put the player in a serene state of mind - just the thing to have in your pocket for when life gets too stressful!

Download now: Apple, Android

Chill Outz

Chill Outz aims to develop creative and engaging apps for kids that help them with progressive relaxation and mindfulness to overcome fears and challenges as they grow.

Mindfulness is the state of being able to live in the moment, forgetting future worries and the 'background noise' of life to just focus on present sensation and thoughts. In a sense, it's being grateful for where you are and what you have.

With the backing of Jacqueline and Kai Vorpahl - clinical psychologist and software product management expert, respectively - the apps have plenty of professional experience to inform and shape them, so give them a try!

Download now: Apple

Great Books to Help Children with Anxiety

Wemberly Worried

Wemberly is a creation of author and illustrator Kevin Henkes, who has been creating children's books for thirty years.

Wemberly the mouse first features in 'Wemberly Worried', a story about her worrisome ways and how these lead her to feel on her first day of school. The story is aimed at children who struggle with stress and worry, and the site has an accompanying activity guide!

We all resonate with characters that we feel we can relate to, and children are no different when it comes to stories. Wemberly's struggles with anxiety can help your child understand that their feelings are normal and controllable. Take a look at her tales and consider them for your worrisome child!
Check it out!
It's Okay to be Different

Written by kids' author Todd Parr, It's Okay to be Different teaches children that diversity is good in a simple, colourful, and witty manner.

The book deals with potentially sensitive and difficult feelings such as adoption or 'having a different nose', to more light-hearted topics such as eating macaroni cheese in the bathtub! The book strikes a great balance between colourful silliness while tackling very real fears that a kid can face when going through the demanding process of settling into school and getting to know their numerous peers.

For a straightforward yet engaging way to help children understand their fears and come to terms with them in an entertaining way, Todd Parr's book is not one to miss.
Find out more
Anxiety Solutions for Kids

Subtitled '50 Ways to Ride the Wave', Anxiety Solutions for Kids is a set of cards that are based on solutions used by consulting psychologist Selina Byrne M.A.P.S., helping children with anxiety to build their resistance and wellbeing.

The solutions are designed to stop worry becoming an unwelcome habit in kids' lives, keeping things simple and easy to follow for when anxiety overrides everything else in a child's mind. The cards each feature short, concise instructions to try when things get too much, and the ones that are most enjoyable or effective can become a go-to favourite.

The solutions proposed on the cards by Selina are the result of years of experience, so consider them as a worthy addition to your stress-fighting arsenal!
Find out more
When My Worries Get Too Big

When My Worries Get Too Big is a book for children who struggle with anxiety and suffer a loss of control in their lives because of it.

The book serves as a relaxation guide for kids who struggle with burdensome worries, and the goal is to instill self-relaxation techniques into the child's memory so that they are empowered to face the stress on their own as they grow.

Helping your children cope with stress and anxiety is important, but equipping them with the means to help themselves is a fantastic way to grant them some control and help them overcome their burdens.
Find out more here
What to Do When You're Scared and Worried

Just one of the many books by clinical psychologist James J. Crist, What to Do When You're Scared and Worried is a self-help guide for children that explains why people have fears and how best to cope with them.

James' books are fantastic for kids, but he also has talks and podcasts on his website that deal with the subjects of stress, anxiety, making friends, and many more issues that kids may face as they grow up. They can be downloaded or listened to online, so take a look!
Check it out
Stress Can Really Get on Your Nerves

Trevor Romain is an illustrator and award-winning author, who has travelled all over the world and delivered his stand-up with his inspirational self-help signature.

Trevor is also a motivational speaker, and created his own company in 2007 that aims to help kids with their mental health in all aspects so that they can grow into happy and confident individuals. His reputation has built up to make him into a sought-after speaker!

He has undertaken numerous projects and his books are highly acclaimed. Browse his works and find out what all the buzz is about!

The Coping Skills Workbook

The Coping Skills Workbook is created to give kids a way to learn and practice coping skills. Equipped with these skills, young people can face their own anxiety, stress, and anger.

The book is available either in print or as an ebook, and contains over 20 printable worksheets and more than 70 coping skills to try. It's simple enough for kids to read and understand on their own, but working alongside a parent or family member is even better!

The workbook has earned the praise of experts in child psychology, and has a lot to share for families who struggle with an anxious child!
Find out more
What's Worrying You?

What's Worrying You is a book for young children written by Molly Potter, an experienced speaker and trainer in the areas of health and wellbeing, behaviour management, team building, and emotional literacy.

She has written more than 25 books and has a wealth of experience in the study of personality profiling, as well as being a qualified teacher with 14 years of experience behind her! Put simply, Molly knows a heck of a lot about how to deal with stress and anxiety!

What's Worrying You is just one of her books built on her amazing track record and contains all kinds of ideas for coping with overwhelming feelings, all accompanied by colourful and lively illustrations. It's hugely affordable too, so why not put down the price of a cup of coffee for such a useful resource?

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🎓 Go-to Anxiety Relief Tools for Children: Expert Approved: The Expert Parent's Guide to Childhood Anxiety

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Children are as prone to feeling stress and the pressures of their day-to-day just as much as adults, with the demands of school achievement, the complexities of making and keeping friends, the worries of starting at new schools - we may dismiss them now with time, but we've all felt them at some stage in our lives.

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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The girls deal with worry quite differently - Big Sis often appears fine from the outside, but inside she can dwell on situations and I have to remember to dig a little deeper when she tells me she's 'fine', just to make sure she really is.

Lil Sis, on the other hand, tends to verbalise her concerns straight away but can get panicky when things seem out of her control.

While Bis Sis was utterly thrilled by the huge thunder and lightning storm we had a few weeks back, Lil Sis hated every single flash and bang, and was jumpy for a couple of days afterwards.

'I've got an idea,' I told them both. 'Why don't we make some worry boxes?'

'A worry WHAT?' Lil Sis replied. 'What's that?' Big Sis asked, curiously.

'Well,' I continued, 'we could buy two boxes and decorate them, leaving a hole in the lid. Whenever you feel scared, or worried or confused you can write your thoughts and feelings down on a piece of paper and pop it inside the box.
Sometimes just writing them down makes you feel better, but if you still need to, we can open the boxes up at the end of the day and read them together and figure out a way to make you feel less worried.'
'Yes, please Mum!' they both replied.

We popped to Hobbycraft and found some decoupage tissue boxes with round holes in the top for just £3.50 each. After stocking up on some metallic paint and glitter shakers, and the girls got to work decorating them (ignore the state of our back garden - that's the next project on our renovation list!).

Once they'd painted the outside in a rainbow of shiny colours, it was time to add the finishing touches with a dusting of glitter. Finally, they carefully penned 'Worry Box' on the outside.

The girls sat, heads bowed, scribbling down all things that had been worrying them and slotting them into the Worry Box.

That evening, we all sat down together and unfolded each piece of paper. 'What happens if we have a fire?' One asked while another said: 'I worry the door will be left unlocked at night.'

I showed the girls all the fire alarms in the house, explaining how even a tiny bit of smoke would set them off, warning us to get to safety. Next, I showed them where to go - either out the front door or into the back garden. 'If you can't get down the stairs, you can even climb out your window on to the porch roof and shout until help arrives,' I explained.

'Do you feel better now?' I asked, and they both nodded.

Next, I showed them what I did every single night before going to bed - including checking all the windows and doors to make sure they were locked. ' Even if I happen to forget one night, Daddy also checks just to make sure,' I told them, watching them smile with relief.

'I'm so glad I put my worries in the box,' Lil Sis announced. 'Now I feel MUCH happier!'

And those words make ME happy too.
* read about the time aliens came to help Big Sis with her school work

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Worry boxes - simple creative ways to reduce anxiety in children

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The girls deal with worry quite differently - Big Sis often appears fine from the outside, but inside she can dwell on situations and I have to remember to dig a little deeper when she tells me she's 'fine', just to make sure she really is.

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Talk Liverpool is a free NHS service offering psychological therapies to adults in Liverpool who are feeling depressed or anxious.
Resource for adults

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Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Halls and David Litchfield – a book to inspire hope from Walker Books & Save the Children

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Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Halls and David Litchfield – a book to inspire hope from Walker Books & Save the Children

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Walker Books has released Rain Before Rainbows by Smriti Halls and illustrated by David Litchfield as a free eBook to raise awareness for Save the Children’s Save with Stories campaign which is helping children most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The rainbow has become an incredible symbol of hope and optimism during this time and we hope that this uplifting story can be a source of comfort and light to children and families.
Suitable for settings working with Primary aged pupils

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In June 2020, Walker Books released Rain before rainbows. Clouds before sun.
Night before daybreak. A new day's begun.
Rain Before Rainbows ahead of publication as a free eBook to raise awareness for Save the Children's #SaveWithStories campaign which is helping children most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The book was read by Stanley Tucci as part of this campaign. The rainbow has become an incredible symbol of hope and optimism, and we hope that this uplifting story continues to be a source of comfort and light to children and families.
A girl and her companion fox travel together from a place of loss and despair, through uncertain times, towards the hope of colour, light and life. Along the way, they find friends to guide and support them. Together, they build a glorious future and discover there is a way out of the darkness, into the light of the rainbow. A book with immense hope at its heart, this is a positive message for anyone who's ever gone through a tough time.

You can buy Rain Before Rainbows: here

Text © 2020 Smriti Halls. Illustrations © 2020 David Litchfield. Rain Before Rainbows published by Walker Books Ltd., London. All Rights Reserved. Warning: Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting are prohibited.

Policies and Terms of Use

Copyright © 2021 Walker Books Ltd.
Walker Books Ltd., 87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ. Registered in England under Company No. 1378601

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In June 2020, Walker Books released Rain before rainbows. Clouds before sun. Night before daybreak. A new day's begun. Rain Before Rainbows ahead of publication as a free eBook to raise awareness for Save the Children's #SaveWithStories campaign which is helping children most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

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Written by Elaine Rees, Liverpool Learning Partnership
Information for settings working with all ages (although information on play bubbles more suitable for primary)

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COVID-19: Helping Young People Manage Low Mood and Depression: A Course from University of Reading and Futurelearn

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COVID-19: Helping Young People Manage Low Mood and Depression: A Course from University of Reading and Futurelearn

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Explore practical ways to help young people manage their mood and maintain healthy habits during the coronavirus pandemic.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Youth Wellbeing and Coronavirus - Online Course - FutureLearn

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Your learning, your rules Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps, but you can complete them as quickly or slowly as you like Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of

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Teaching Students Who Have Suffered Complex Trauma: A Course on Futurelearn

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Teaching Students Who Have Suffered Complex Trauma: A Course on Futurelearn

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Find out what complex trauma is, how it affects children and adolescents, and what can be done to help.
Suitable for settings working with all ages.

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This course has been certified by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to continuing professional development principles. Find out more.

Learn how to support students who have experienced complex trauma

Complex trauma affects the physical, emotional and social development of children and adolescents.

In order to minimise harm, teachers and school leaders need to respond appropriately using trauma-informed practices and policies.

In this course, you'll get an introduction to what complex trauma is and how it affects young people's development at school.

You'll understand the neuroscience behind the behaviours presented by students who have experienced complex trauma.

You'll learn how to apply trauma-informed strategies and policies that will minimise the risk to students and school staff.

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What topics will you cover?

Attachment and trauma theories

The neuroscience behind the behaviours presented by students who have experienced complex trauma

The impact on those who support students who have experienced complex trauma

Strategies for minimising the risk to students in classrooms and schools

The importance of applying trauma-informed practice and programs in schools

Who is this accredited by?

The CPD Certification Service:

The CPD Certification Service was established in 1996 and is the leading independent CPD accreditation institution operating across industry sectors to complement the CPD policies of professional and academic bodies.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

Describe what complex trauma is and how it affects children's and adolescents' development

Describe the neurobiological impact of complex trauma on children's and adolescents' behaviours at school

Identify trauma-informed practices that could minimise risk to school students who have experienced complex trauma

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for teaching staff and education leaders who want to improve their professional practice. It may also be of interest to health and social care workers.

For Australian educators, this course aligns with the following Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST):
* 1.1, 1.2, 1.5
* 3.3, 3.5
* 4.1, 4.3, 4.4
* 6

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning

Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities

Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners

Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course

Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning

Whenever you're ready, mark each step as complete, you're in control

Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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Teaching Students with Complex Trauma - Online Course

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Get an introduction to what complex trauma is, how it affects children and adolescents, with this course from Queensland University of Technology.

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Anxiety in Children and Young People during COVID-19: A Course from University of East Anglia and FutureLearn

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Anxiety in Children and Young People during COVID-19: A Course from University of East Anglia and FutureLearn

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Learn about anxiety and discover helpful strategies to support young people struggling with anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Better understand the impact of COVID-19 on anxiety in children

The impact of coronavirus can be seen on every facet of our society. One of the key challenges of these unprecedented times is the heightened risks caused by anxiety, especially in younger people.

On this course, you'll learn what anxiety is and how to support young people suffering from anxiety in the time of coronavirus.

With mental health professionals at the University of East Anglia and partnering mental health organisations, you'll discover triggers and signs of anxiety to look out for.

You'll also discover practical solutions for helping the young people in your life, and where to find additional help.

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COVID-19 has had an impact on all our lives. Children and young people have been affected by physical distancing, quarantines and nationwide school closures. How a child or young person reacts can vary according to their age, how they understand information and communicate their, previous experiences and how they typically cope with stress and anxiety. This module is broken into two parts. Week one looks at normal anxiety. Week two looks at the impact that COVID-19 might have had on children and young people and their ability to cope with the stresses and strains that this has placed on them.

What topics will you cover?

Impact of COVID 19 on mental health/anxiety in young people

What is anxiety and its causes

Importance of support

Guidance for parents

Spotting symptoms

Advice/treatment and support

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for teachers, supporters, guardians, and parents of children affected by the current COVID-19 situation.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning

Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities

Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners

Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course

Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning

Whenever you're ready, mark each step as complete, you're in control

Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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Anxiety in Children During COVID-19 - Online Course - FutureLearn

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Learn more about anxiety and how you can support the young people in your life struggling with anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic with UEA's free online course.

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Helping Children Understand Changes in School and Society

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Helping Children Understand Changes in School and Society

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A collection of resources to support children in understanding changes that may occur in school or when out and about.
Suitable for use in EYFS/Primary/some Special School settings

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Helping Children Understand Changes in School and Society During Covid-19

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Supporting Primary to High School Transition: Course for parents & students

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Supporting Primary to High School Transition: Course for parents & students

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Suitable for families with children in Y6

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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SchudioTV - Inspirational Online Courses for Teachers & Schools

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Parenting in a Pandemic

Top Tips to help you parent during a pandemic

Fear usually drives us to take urgent action, however, children can be really traumatised by fear so it is our job as adults to understand how to model overcoming fear, and how to help our children overcome their fear.

Sign up as a school leader and then share this page with your parents.

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Top Tips to help you parent during a pandemic Fear usually drives us to take urgent action, however, children can be really traumatised by fear so it is our job as adults to understand how to model overcoming fear, and how to help our children overcome their fear.

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The Big Transitions for Autistic and SEND Pupils After Lockdown

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The Big Transitions for Autistic and SEND Pupils After Lockdown

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A course with practical help, advice and resources to help you prepare your Autistic and SEND children for the big transitions as lockdown begins to ease.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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The Big Transitions for Autistic and SEND Pupils after Lockdown

Practical help, advice and resources to help you prepare your Autistic and SEND children for the big transitions as lockdown begins to ease.
[includes subtitles]

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SchudioTV - Inspirational online courses for teachers

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The Big Transitions for Autistic and SEND Pupils after Lockdown Practical help, advice and resources to help you prepare your Autistic and SEND children for the big transitions as lockdown begins to ease. [includes subtitles]

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The Big Transitions for Autistic and SEND Pupils After Lockdown

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The Big Transitions for Autistic and SEND Pupils After Lockdown

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A course with practical help, advice and resources to help you prepare your Autistic and SEND children for the big transitions as lockdown begins to ease.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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The Big Transitions for Autistic and SEND Pupils after Lockdown

Practical help, advice and resources to help you prepare your Autistic and SEND children for the big transitions as lockdown begins to ease.
[includes subtitles]

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SchudioTV - Inspirational online courses for teachers

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The Big Transitions for Autistic and SEND Pupils after Lockdown Practical help, advice and resources to help you prepare your Autistic and SEND children for the big transitions as lockdown begins to ease. [includes subtitles]

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Tips, strategies and resources for parents and teachers from SNAP-Behaviour to help with anxiety.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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A collection to encourage children to develop a positive mindset and to look for the positives in each day.
Suitable for settings working with all ages (age suitability marked on each resource)

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Includes physical games and arty activities. Collected and curated by Nicole Winters (@WinterImagines on Twitter)
This resource is aimed at settings working with Primary Aged pupils but some activities could be adapted for use with different ages

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Outdoor Games and Activities Ideas No Contact

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Agents of Hope: Whole School Ethos- Andrew Moffat

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Agents of Hope: Whole School Ethos- Andrew Moffat

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Suitable for Primary Schools

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This resource uses the moving and relevant environmental message of This Morning I Met a Whale by Michael Morpurgo to put oracy at the heart of transition: prompting high-quality discussion, developing skills such as questioning, clarifying and summarising,  and building confidence in verbal presentation.
Suitable for Y6 classes (could be adapted for use in Y7)

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We have teamed up with Voice 21 to create a project to prepare pupils for their transition to secondary school and the next chapter of their educational journey. Pupils heading to Year 7 need growing confidence, strong language skills and the ability to express themselves, to develop their thinking skills and to communicate effectively.

This resource uses the moving and relevant environmental message of This Morning I Met a Whale by Michael Morpurgo to put oracy at the heart of transition: prompting high-quality discussion, developing skills such as questioning, clarifying and summarising, and building confidence in verbal presentation.

Through the resource we support you to:

provide an explicit focus on oracy, with direct teaching of talk skills through tasks

offer pupils an opportunity to reflect on the power of oracy for learning

help pupils to evaluate their own levels of skill and confidence in preparation for this significant next step in their educational journey

provide opportunity for pupils to demonstrate and celebrate the skills they have gained.

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Transition talk - an environment-themed oracy project | National Literacy Trust

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We have teamed up with Voice 21 to create a project to prepare pupils for their transition to secondary school and the next chapter of their educational journey. Pupils heading to Year 7 need growing confidence, strong language skills and the ability to express themselves, to develop their thinking skills and to communicate effectively.

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Cosmic Literacy Transition Project for Y6 teachers

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Cosmic Literacy Transition Project for Y6 teachers

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Suitable for Y6 classes (could be adapted for use in Y7)

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A celebratory literacy transition project for Year 6 pupils with an intergalactic theme.

This resource commemorates the anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing and is based on the hilarious and touching book Cosmic by Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

The resource has been designed to be flexible to meet the needs of busy Year 6 teachers. You can dip in, read the book as a class reader, select as many of the activities as you wish in the time you have, or immerse your class in the whole project to enjoy the summer term in the company of cosmic heroes and characters both real and imaginary. The project seeks to support both academic and pastoral transition as your pupils, just like Liam in the story, face the daunting and exciting challenge of growing up and taking the next steps in their learning journey.

The resource includes

A teacher resource full of activities and ideas to support transition

A pupil audio diary planning grid

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Cosmic - an intergalactic literacy transition project | National Literacy Trust

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A celebratory literacy transition project for Year 6 pupils with an intergalactic theme. This resource commemorates the anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing and is based on the hilarious and touching book Cosmic by Frank Cottrell-Boyce. The resource has been designed to be flexible to meet the needs of busy Year 6 teachers.

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Guidance and practical approaches to support schools and parents plan, prepare and support their children and young people with SEND transition back into schools and settings
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Guidance and practical approaches to support schools and parents plan, prepare and support their children and young people with SEND transition back into schools and settings
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Anxiety and Stress Resources from Safe Hands Thinking Minds

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Anxiety and Stress Resources from Safe Hands Thinking Minds

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http://www.safehandsthinkingminds.co.uk/covid-anxiety-stress-resources-links/
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Some resources to support children and adults around anxiety, worry, stress, and fears; including those related to the pandemic/Covid-19 (this page will be updated on a very regular basis so please keep checking it for new entries. This is not an exhaustive or prescriptive list).

Free videos by Dr Karen Treisman to support relaxation and emotional regulation (please feel free to send in requests as I am happy to create more if possible)

Things to be mindful of:
Firstly, please hold in mind, there is no right or wrong. We are all different and going through changes, reflections, and discoveries a lot of the time. We all have different sensory profiles, needs, preferences, pasts and so forth- so, take your time to choose what will be most helpful to you at this time, or none of them at all, if you just need some space or to do something different- there is no one size fits all. There is a menu of options to give some ideas, but there are many more which you might like to try. Be gentle with yourself and others.

People may be experiencing an array of different feelings, and these might be changing and flowing at different times; as well as soaking in other people's feelings and sensations. For more grounding, soothing, and coping tools please see my "Presley the Pug" or "Binnie the baboon" workbooks, my therapeutic treasure box book, or my therapeutic treasure deck of grounding, soothing, regulating, and coping cards.

Please also see my online module on Presley the Pug for a 9.5 hours of videos and resources around emotional regulation and expressing feelings.

1. Hand or star breathing-A video by Dr Karen Treisman introducing a brief breathing exercise called "hand breathing". It can be used for children and for adults. https://youtu.be/NAldSdx-jps

2. Sensory, grounding, soothing, and regulating box- A video by Dr Karen Treisman discussing how to make and create a sensory, soothing, and grounding box which supports all of one's senses to regulate. Suitable and adaptable for children and adults. https://youtu.be/9XyxqWiqLk0

3. Muscle tensing and releasing tool-A video by Dr Karen Treisman introducing a brief tension releasing exercise of tensing and relaxing one's muscles. Suitable and adaptable for children and adults. https://youtu.be/FbhUxg9eHDE

4. Left and right body breathing- A video by Dr Karen Treisman introducing a breathing exercise which supports left and right breathing. Suitable for older children, teenagers, and adults. https://youtu.be/MHwiqovPrXY

5. Rhythm and butterfly breathing-A video by Dr Karen Treisman introducing how rhythm can be used to help to change one's regulation and arousal. Also, this introduces the butterfly hug move which activates both the left and right side of one's brain. Suitable and adaptable for children and adults. https://youtu.be/e6z6TJ1wQDM

6. Externalising worry through worry dolls, worry plaques etc- https://youtu.be/5Q-EoWSJQJg

7. Soaking in a positive moment- A video by Dr Karen Treisman introducing how we can find a happy, feel good, and positive memory and travel back to it, anchor on to it, and soak it in- including using all of our senses. Suitable and adaptable for children and adults. https://youtu.be/RRiQixmqcXI

8. Every interaction is an intervention- video of Dr Karen Treisman explaining her quote "Every interaction is an intervention"- https://youtu.be/8pBkXbCP3Q4

There are many many more worksheets, tips, tools, and resources in my books and cards (available from amazon and a range of other retailers):

1. Binnie the Baboon- a workbook for anxiety, stress, worries, and fears- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWEGxbnNe4E

2. Presley the Pug- a workbook for relaxation, calm and emotional regulation- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhjZHu1MjeY

3. Therapeutic Treasure Deck of grounding, regulating, soothing, and coping cards- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfw_bGIcMcM

4. Neon the ninja focusing on nightmares, sleep difficulties, and night terrors- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2mnU3TXW8c

These are also available as ebooks and pdfs here- https://www.ebooks.com/en-gb/searchapp/searchresults.net?term=karen+treisman

Please also see my online module on Presley the Pug for a 9.5 hours of videos and resources around emotional regulation and expressing feelings. See the online training tab on this website for more information.

Podcasts and videos from Dr Karen Treisman and a range of other people which might be useful at this time: (for general podcasts about trauma please see recommendations under my links, worksheets, and podcast page).

Karen Treisman discussing how the current situation might evoke and re-trigger past traumas- A video by Dr Karen Treisman discussing how the experiences being felt during the pandemic can be retriggering and resurfacing past traumas and feelings and sending people down a time hole. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msNO7ZmLXns&feature=youtu.be

Karen Treisman discussion some common survival, protective, and coping tools, skills, and resources-A video discussing some of the survival, protective, and coping responses and skills which we as individuals can use and rely on when in a place of threat, stress, trauma, and fear. Discusses fight, flight, freeze, and many more responses- https://youtu.be/tVw6naHFLKc and an accompanying worksheet (please ensure this is fully cited and referenced if shared or used) around survival skills and patterns- http://www.safehandsthinkingminds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/feeling-safe-putting-up-defenses.pdf

Karen Treisman discussing some of the survival, protective, and coping responses and skills which organisations, systems, and teams can use and rely on when in a place of threat, stress, trauma, and fear. Discusses fight, flight, freeze, and many more responses. https://youtu.be/PaRwY7qzEyw and a worksheet on this http://www.safehandsthinkingminds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/organisational-defences-final-bled.pd f (please ensure this is fully cited and referenced if shared or used)

Karen Treisman discussing the importance of how organisations make people feel during this time; and how the values of trauma-informed practice need to be embedded and modelled; and our staff wellbeing needs to be at the forefront- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J7ayCkw4eg

Karen Treisman- reading a poem written by Karen for Drop for Disorder about trauma, adversity, and culturally informed, infused, and responsive systems and organisational change- "trauma reducing not trauma inducing"- the topic of Karen's forthcoming book on trauma-informed organizations- https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=LRJ9w3jIv0w&feature=emb_logo

Karen Treisman discussing some of the reasons why people might be either/or struggling to fall asleep, having disturbed or change sleep, and/or feeling exhausted and tired more than usual in the context of the pandemic- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClztIRbjeiI

Karen Treisman discussing some of the different layers of loss, grief, and mourning both at an individual and collective level which people may experiencing, feeling, and seeing. loss amidst the coronavirus- https://youtu.be/n9a79NeUARo

Grief, death, bereavement, and loss online module (7.5 hours and a resource pack)- supporting children and adolescents by Dr Karen Treisman (paid)- creative and expressive resources- safehandsthinkingminds.thinkific.com

Karen Treisman and Lisa Cherry in conversation about trauma, adversity, and culturally informed, infused, and responsive organisations in the context of the pandemic- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rqbKq9UBHU&feature=emb_logo

Dr Karen Treisman and Kathryn Angelini from Hillingdon virtual school- talking about school, covid, emotional regulation, supervision and much more- https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-irpx9-e02bcf?utm_campaign=u_share_ep&utm_medium=dlink&utm_source=u_share

Dr Karen Treisman and Hannah Albery and Kate Margarson on mind matters- talking about schools, trauma-informed practice, relationships, creativity and much more- http://youtu.be/MCDkkB_Ht5I

Bruce Perry (there is a whole series by Bruce around the pandemic)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orwIn02h6V4&feature=youtu.be and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcDTXJpCMiY&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

Guy Mcpherson and Bruce Perry- https://www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/podcast/bruce-perry-md-phd-staying-emotionally-close-in-the-time-of-covid-19/

Bruce Perry on decision fatigue in the context of the pandemic- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc-Nv8eqfgM&feature=share&app=desktop

Racial injustice and covid- http://‪ https://jri.org/podcasts/covid-19-response-and-racial-injustices

Coronavirus and poverty- https://soundcloud.com/user-72463423/episode-2-coronavirus-and-poverty

The Social Matters Podcast- The impact of Covid-19 on Black and minority Ethnic people podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-social-matters-podcast/id1436421996

Nadine Harris Burke on the Black Community and Covid- https://sdvoice.info/the-black-community-covid-19-trauma/

James Docherty and Lisa Cherry on maintaining recovery from addition during covid- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D5973k_VEw

Neglect in the context of Covid- https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/Blog/child-neglect-lockdown-and-the-new-normal

Podcasts around covid from ITTIC- http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/social-research/institutes-centers/institute-on-trauma-and-trauma-informed-care/trauma-talks/trauma-talks-covid19.html

Guy Mcpherson and Peter Levine- https://www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/podcast/peter-levine-phd-managing-in-the-midst-of-covid-19/

Gabor Mate and Russell Brand- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-mJnYmdVmQ and Gabor Mate and Thomas Hubl- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FhlVIhjZj4k

Dan Hughes- talking about Covid and children who have experienced trauma- https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=2nLF0wdoSJ0&app=desktop

Madeleine Black about Covid- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR0uv2gXtHY&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

Managing stress in the workplace-Jerry Colonna and Camille Preston - https://hbr.org/podcast/2020/03/managing-the-stress-and-uncertainty-of-coronavirus

Stephen Porges and the polyvagal theory and covid- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGTHm6R4pc&app=desktop

Autism and covid- https://www.acamh.org/podcasts/cornavirus-autism-a-parents-guide/?utm_source=Subscriber&utm_campaign=0401ae5288-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_12_02_03_10_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f59ca1eb20-0401ae5288-119372361 and supporting neuro diverse children during isolation- https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=dXPtqmHKNoE&app=desktop

Janina Fisher on covid- https://www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/podcast/janina-fisher-phd-managing-in-the-midst-of-covid-19/

The future of children's service in the context of covid- Jenny Cole- https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/wwcsc-talks/id1511700345

Podcast on delivering children's services during covid- https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/news/2020/june/podcast-impact-on-delivering-childrens-services-during-lockdown

Lockdown and stories from adopters - http://www.alcoates.co.uk/p/the-adoption-fostering-podcast.html

A song from beacon house- take what you need- https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=tDCTKz66vYg

Bessel Van der Kolk podcast about covid- https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/blog/caring-for-yourself and Bessel on helplessness amidst covid- https://www.nicabm.com/when-covid19-leaves-clients-feeling-helpless/

Jennifer King webinar on the impact of trauma on our brains- https://medium.com/@jak292/covid-19-our-brains-our-bodies-our-trauma-8ece7779cc9b

Fran Waters interviewed by Guy McPherson- https://www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/podcast/fran-s-waters-lmft-managing-in-the-midst-of-covid-19/

Juli Alvaredo- home but not alone- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Evv0vgqiAY&feature=share&app=desktop

Paul Gilbert on compassionate mind during covid and beyond- https://www.compassionatewellbeing.com/compassion-safe-relating-and-world-change.html

Sue Badaeu on grief and loss during covid- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qON_Vcz6U8&app=desktop

The coronavirus can teach us to connect- Ted talk- https://thewisdomcollector.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-coronavirus-crisis-can-teach-us.html?m=1

One small thing has a regular podcast about prison and the justice system- they have been doing a series about covid within this- here is one example- https://play.acast.com/s/justice/2dcd77d4-8fd3-49a3-ab3a-74a41e338d76

Hannah Albery and Lisa Cherry- talking about being a headteacher during covid- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8_7cK2BhQ0

Stuart guest- advice for schools post lockdown- https://pookyh.buzzsprout.com/1183931/4458053-stuart-guest-how-can-schools-take-a-trauma-informed-approach-post-pandemic

Interview on grief and loss from University of Buffalo- http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/social-research/institutes-centers/institute-on-trauma-and-trauma-informed-care/trauma-talks/trauma-talks-grief-loss.html

Short clip by Patricia Berendsen- why am I so tired when working online therapeutically- https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=DRRjetJSzhs&app=desktop

Impact of social work of covid podcast- https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/episode-15-s2-impact-of-covid-19-on-social-work/id1436421996?i=1000471949788

Trauma informed communication- why it is important- https://traumainformedoregon.org/understanding-why-trauma-informed-communication-is-important/

How lockdown can impacts sports and play- https://www.anncrafttrust.org/return-to-play-how-lockdown-affects-sport-and-activity-safeguarding-matters/

Useful links for adults and children (by no means exhaustive or prescriptive, and not in a particular list):

Child and adolescent resources:

Downloadable child friendly explanation about coronavirus- http://www.millfields.hackney.sch.uk/uploads/2019/Corona%20Virus%20Info%20for%20Young%20Children.pdf.pdf and

Some lovely illustrated stories from the Australian Childhood Foundation about corona and hugs- https://www.childhood.org.au/app/uploads/2020/03/Talking-to-Children-COVID-19-Social-Story.pdf and https://www.childhood.org.au/app/uploads/2020/04/hug_HR.pdf

Talking to kids about coronavirus- 2 useful blogs- http://www.jkp.com/jkpblog/2020/03/i-have-a-question-about-coronavirus/ And http://www.jkp.com/jkpblog/2020/03/talking-to-children-about-the-coronavirus/

A book for children about coronavirus- https://nursedottybooks.com/dave-the-dog-is-worried-about-coronavirus-2/?fbclid=IwAR2xzx5IPUaVRZ506wnQKyq-e1vdJ8KZtEpLeXF2AVoROsNfmNJIGbnOGus

Some worksheets for kids whilst they are home, share by Jessica Kingsley Publishers- https://emails.jkp.com/t/t-E7198D9CA58B42F52540EF23F30FEDED

A book illustrated about covid by Axel Scheffler- https://nosycrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Coronavirus-A-Book-for-Children.pdf

Stay at home superheroes book- https://issuu.com/sophie_marsh/docs/stay_home_superheroes

Everybody worries. A picture book about coronavirus- https://en.calameo.com/read/000777721945cfe5bb9cc?authid=Xu9pcOzU3TQx

A story for children called "how not to go to school" about lockdown- https://parsleymimblewood.wordpress.com/

A book for children called "stuck inside"- https://www.stuckinsidebook.com/

Story book about coronavirus by UNHCR- https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2020/4/5e8ecdba4/childrens-storybook-released-help-children-young-people-cope-covid-19.html

While we can't hug story and video for children- https://youtu.be/2PnnFrPaRgY

Time to come in bear animation- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA_SsZFYw0w&feature=youtu.be

Some info about coronavirus and anxiety for young people- https://young.scot/campaigns/national/coronavirus

I have a question resource for children- https://www.ihaveaquestionbook.com/

Covid related grief and bereavement resources- http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/covid-19.aspx and https://www.winstonswish.org/coronavirus/

Some worksheets for children during this time (need to be adapted accordingly)- https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A18b7fa14-bbb1-4067-9b8a-757d2defb735&fbclid=IwAR2Q24JQp2tx-QFfdP7ZQtwiZaQK5GASgVnpDXZz5dg0e8ahfFx1RoQfLMc

Some videos and activities for adults and children- https://www.childcomwales.org.uk/coronavirus/

A story about covid (American-focused)- https://alliedhealth.lsuhsc.edu/clinics/docs/CarolineConquersherCoronoaFears31820.pdf

Child's guide to staying safe online- https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cco-childrens-digital-safety-wellbeing-kit.pdf

Adult resources predominantly around trauma: (of course there are overlaps)

Trauma-informed values and principles applied to the current covid situation written by Dr Karen Treisman- trauma informed values in covid

Thinking of those infographic with rainbows poster- thinking of all of those who...

Resources from beacon house about covid, developmental trauma, attachment and much more- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJHupiDtJKA&feature=youtu.be and on survival mode- https://beaconhouse.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/What-Survival-Looks-Like-At-Home.pdf

Trauma-informed Oregon-Trauma-informed response to Covid- https://traumainformedoregon.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Considerations-for-COVID-19-Trauma-Informed-Response.pdf and https://traumainformedoregon.org/tic-wellness-and-routines-rituals/ and https://traumainformedoregon.org/workforce-wellness-strategies-during-covid-19/

Trauma-informed script from trauma-informed Oregon- https://traumainformedoregon.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Anatomy-of-a-Trauma-Informed-Script-TIP-Sheet.pdf

Trauma informed communication- why it is important- https://traumainformedoregon.org/understanding-why-trauma-informed-communication-is-important/

Resources from Bruce Perry and the Neurosequential model- https://www.neurosequential.com/covid-19-resources

Covid response from mad in the UK- non pathologising responses- https://www.madintheuk.com/2020/03/covid-19-resources-were-all-in-this-together/

Covid and pandemic from a social justice and equity lens- https://www.racialequitytools.org/fundamentals/resource-lists/resources-addressing-covid-19-with-racial-equity-lens

Covid and poverty- https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2020-21

Pandemic pressures for low income families report- https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2021/01/Pandemic-pressures.pdf

Social justice resources from the pandemic from irresistible- https://irresistible.org/covid

The Social Matters Podcast- The impact of Covid-19 on Black and minority Ethnic people podcast- https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-social-matters-podcast/id1436421996

Impact of covid on BAME communities from Royal College of Psychiatrists- https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/about-us/covid-19/impact-of-covid19-on-bame-staff-in-mental-healthcare-settings_assessment-and-management-of-risk_13052020v2.pdf?sfvrsn=1068965_2

BAME and covid- http://www.bmevoices.co.uk/introducing-you-to-bamestream/

Anti-racist resources- please see the trauma-informed organisation tab for anti-racist resource recommendations.

Coronavirus and the impact on children from the Roma community- http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/33616/1/4%20Roma%20Children%27s%20Participation%20-%20Covid-19%20and%20the%20EU.pdf

Resources for managing stress in a pandemic- https://www.acesconnection.com/g/practicing-resilience/blog/managing-post-traumatic-stress-in-a-pandemic-practices-and-resources-updated-regularly

SAMSHA- Lots of resources and downloads- https://www.samhsa.gov/coronavirus

Living in uncertain times- https://drjenfrahm.com/leading-uncertain-times/

Looking after yourself and your family during coronavirus- https://www.yarboroughacademy.co.uk/for-parents-and-carers/looking-after-you-and-your-family-during-coronavirus/

Some self-care resources from Buffalo Social Work- http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/resources/self-care-starter-kit.html and from the Anna Freud Centre- https://www.annafreud.org/selfcare/

A blog by Dr Liz Gregory- https://weneedtotalkaboutchildrensmentalhealth.wordpress.com/2020/03/27/tips-to-share-with-children-to-help-them-cope-with-the-new-normal/amp/?__twitter_impression=true and one based on teenagers during lockdown- https://weneedtotalkaboutchildrensmentalhealth.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/2and-getting-through-lockdown-together-with-teenagers/

Some resources around disaster responses- https://www.samhsa.gov/dtac/recovering-disasters/phases-disaster

Some resources about panic and worry from Narrative Therapy- https://dulwichcentre.com.au/lived-wisdom-on-panic-worry-and-isolation/

Some resources about Narrative Therapy in a pandemic- https://dulwichcentre.com.au/narrative-responses-to-covid-19/

Useful article in the guardian normalising people's responses- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/why-its-healthy-to-be-afraid-in-a-crisis

Covid resources which are about non-pathologising responses- https://www.madintheuk.com/2020/03/covid-19-resources-were-all-in-this-together/

We are in this together- Lucy Johnstone- Mad in the UK- https://www.madintheuk.com/2020/04/we-are-all-in-this-together/

Media struggle to define what is normal- Mad in America- https://www.madinamerica.com/2020/04/pandemic-media-define-whats-normal/

Understanding our feelings during covid- Mad in the UK- https://www.madintheuk.com/2020/05/understanding-feelings-time-of-covid/

The impact of covid on early years- https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Getting-the-Balance-Right.pdf

EMDR in the context of Covid- https://mcusercontent.com/952e63a91783a30a4877e5acc/files/424023bb-a404-4dc9-80ae-75f7f8c3052f/EMDR_Resources_in_the_Era_of_COVID_19.pdf

Some resources from the BPS- https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/advice-talking-children-about-illness

Trauma-informed response for covid- http://chicagotorturejustice.org/wellness-during-the-coronavirus/#trauma

Covid related grief and bereavement resources- http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/covid-19.aspx and https://www.winstonswish.org/coronavirus/ and https://www.phoenixgrouphq.com/bereavement

Grief and loss online module by Dr Karen Treisman (paid)- creative and expressive resources- safehandsthinkingminds.thinkific.com

Covid trauma working group- https://www.traumagroup.org/

Responding to stress experienced by hospital staff resources- https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/audio-video/stress-hospital-staff-covid-19

Health journal about covid- https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/coronavirus

Digital poverty blog- https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/zoe-amar-covid-19-%E2%80%93-charities-action-digital-divide/digital/article/1683991

Remote working book- https://seasaltlearning.com/finding-your-campfire-a-remote-working-survival-guide/

Some tips by Dr Karen Treisman around attending virtual events- Some top tips and ideas for attending a virtual event

A report about young people using online therapy in the charity world- https://www.thinknpc.org/resource-hub/charities-young-people-and-digital-mental-health-services/

Community response to covid- a range of resources- https://ccr.publichealth.gwu.edu/covid-19

Community resources from Kenya including posters in a variety of languages- https://sites.google.com/green-string.org/covid-19-kenya/home

Some theraplay resources which can be done virtually- https://theraplay.org/product/theraplay-activities-for-telehealth/

Some guided mediation- https://corona.pocketproject.org/practice-tools/

Some sensorimotor tools and ideas during the pandemic- https://sensorimotor.pages.ontraport.net/online-therapy-resources

Some EMDR resources during the pandemic- https://mcusercontent.com/952e63a91783a30a4877e5acc/files/424023bb-a404-4dc9-80ae-75f7f8c3052f/EMDR_Resources_in_the_Era_of_COVID_19.pdf

Some videos and activities for adults and children- https://www.childcomwales.org.uk/coronavirus/

Colour in poster- this won't be forever- by Emma Paxton- http://imagistic.co.uk/free-covid-19-printables/

Safeguarding, covid, and education- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-safeguarding-in-schools-colleges-and-other-providers/coronavirus-covid-19-safeguarding-in-schools-colleges-and-other-providers

Going back to school over covid blog by Mary Meredith- https://marymered.wordpress.com/2020/04/14/five-ways-to-help-children-heal-when-schools-reopen/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Reopening education after covid- https://case.edu/socialwork/traumacenter/sites/case.edu.traumacenter/files/2020-06/COVID-19%20and%20Opening%20of%20Educational%20Institutions.pdf

Schools supporting children around bereavement in the context of covid- https://www.winstonswish.org/coronavirus-schools-support-children-young-people/

Pupils views about change to education around covid- https://edpsy.org.uk/features/2020/pupil-views-around-the-covid-19-pandemic-an-opportunity-for-change-in-education/

Help with remove education (England)- https://get-help-with-remote-education.education.gov.uk/

Babies born during lockdown report- https://babiesinlockdown.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/babies-in-lockdown-main-report-final-version.pdf

Covid and impact on babies report- https://parentinfantfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/210115-F1001D-Working-for-Babies-Report-FINAL-v1.0-compressed.pdf

Mandalas to colour in- covid related- https://www.dropbox.com/s/rsxquk12joqe9vo/Healing-from-the-Inside-Out-Affirmations-and-coloring-pages-for-covid19%20(2).pdf?dl=0

NHS and anxiety- https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/anxiety/?WT.tsrc=Search&WT.mc_id=Anxiety&gclid=CjwKCAjwsMzzBRACEiwAx4lLG5nZ-vEMTwxo3vaH0eBTh3sJLVydiJkxwHJS7114R37GGwIXXRzJ9BoC_0YQAvD_BwE

For those interested in CBT resources- https://www.psychologytools.com/

Some info for adults about coronavirus and anxiety- https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/looking-after-your-mental-health-during-coronavirus-outbreak/while-working

Doing what matters in times of stress- A guide written by WHO- https://www.who.int/publications-detail/9789240003927

Coronavirus and prisons- https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8892/

On-The-Line. A film made in lockdown by 42 young refugees. https://youtu.be/PSeBhWTvTxQ‬
Some social work, child protection, and care specific resources:
Some guidelines for social workers during this time- https://www.basw.co.uk/professional-practice-guidance-home-visits-during-covid-19-pandemic

Social work amidst the pandemic- https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/children/news-views/2020/april/social-work-with-children-and-families-in-the-pandemic/

A spotlight about remote working in the courts by a judge- http://www.transparencyproject.org.uk/remote-justice-a-judges-perspective/

Virtual family group conferences- https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2021/01/14/virtual-family-group-conferences-fared-covid-19/

Journal on social work during covid- https://sw2020covid19.group.shef.ac.uk/

Journal on social work during covid- next edition- http://sw2020covid19.group.shef.ac.uk

Journal on social work during covid- edition 5- https://sw2020covid19.group.shef.ac.uk/

Resources to support social workers during covid- https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2020/05/26/social-work-podcasts-support-covid-19/

Safeguarding in covid for community and voluntary groups- https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/news/2020/may/safeguarding-during-coronavirus-voluntary-and-community-groups

The impact of covid on care leavers report by staf- https://www.staf.scot/news/staf-report-covid-19

David Grimm writes an article of some of the experiences of lockdown from a care experienced perspective- https://www.nationalconfidentialforum.org.uk/news-events/2020/05/national-confidential-forum-participant-david-grimm-issues-advice-to-care-experienced-people-during-lockdown/

A collaborative poem about care experienced young people during lockdown- https://imohub.org.uk/definecare-collaborative-poem-by-care-leavers/

Covid and increased cyber and online abuse report- https://t.co/5k0x0fpZjr?amp=1

Virtual children's hearings report- https://www.celcis.org/files/6815/9646/6463/Virtual_Childrens_Hearings_Report_3rd_August_2020.pdf

Coronavirus and safeguarding/child protection- https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection/coronavirus

Podcast on social work leadership amidst covid- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qON_Vcz6U8&app=desktop

Podcast on delivering children's services during covid- https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/news/2020/june/podcast-impact-on-delivering-childrens-services-during-lockdown

Covid guidance and foster care/residential- https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/covid-19-guidance-foster-care-and-supported-lodgings-settings and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-isolation-for-residential-educational-settings/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-isolation-for-residential-educational-settings

Introduction of placements and adoption transitions from corambaaf- https://corambaaf.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/Managing%20Introductions%20of%20children%20with%20their%20prospective%20adopters%20270320.pdf

Report looking at kinship carers during the pandemic. Kinship carers are hugely important & often a neglected & poorly represented group of people- https://www.frg.org.uk/images/Cross_party_PT_on_KC/Kinship_carers_experiences_report.pdf

Impact of lockdown and school closures on care experienced young people- https://www.adoptionuk.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=b3326f3b-4cdf-46fe-94e1-8724bbb75475

Home visits and child protection- the challenges of physically distancing- https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/children/news-views/2020/july/child-protection-and-risks-from-covid-19-home-visits-and-the-challenges-of-social-distancing/

Young carers and the impact of covid- https://www.anncrafttrust.org/young-carers-and-covid-19/

Young carers and covid- a report by UEA- https://www.caringtogether.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/UEA-young-carer-CRCF-COVID-19-final-findings-v1.0.pdf

Young people's experience of the justice system during covid- https://www.cycj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/COVID-19-and-justice-report-final.pdf

Family and drugs courts briefing during covid- https://justiceinnovation.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/2020-05/fdac_briefing_final.pdf

The impact of covid on children living in poverty- https://view.publitas.com/the-childhood-trust/children-in-lockdown-the-childhood-trust-report-june-2020/page/1

Social work guidance around covid- https://markallenassets.blob.core.windows.net/communitycare/2020/04/PSW-Coronavirus-Ethical-Response-and-Best-Practice-Guide.pdf

Children with disabilities during covid- https://contact.org.uk/news-and-blogs/dcp-left-in-lockdown/

Impact of social work of covid podcast- https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/episode-15-s2-impact-of-covid-19-on-social-work/id1436421996?i=1000471949788

Virtual contact between children and birth parents blog written by Research in Practice- https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/children/news-views/2020/april/virtual-contact-between-children-and-their-birth-families-during-lockdown-unexpected-opportunities/

Lockdown and stories from adopters- http://www.alcoates.co.uk/p/the-adoption-fostering-podcast.html

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Covid, Anxiety, Stress- Resources & Links

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Some resources to support children and adults around anxiety, worry, stress, and fears; including those related to the pandemic/Covid-19 (this page will be updated on a very regular basis so please...

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NeuroLove was created to support young people who are between 8 – 25 years old, to stay emotionally and physically well

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Our Social Therapists offer mentoring (a type of supportive relationship). They provide encouragement and inspiration to help young people improve and maintain their emotional and physical wellbeing. The 30-minute sessions are free for young people to book and offer a space to talk and share their thoughts and experiences with someone who will listen and offer support where necessary.

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Developing Our Mental Wellbeing and Resilience: Online Training- School Improvement Liverpool

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Developing Our Mental Wellbeing and Resilience: Online Training- School Improvement Liverpool

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One free place on these sessions  for Liverpool schools.  Further places will be charged at £50 per delegate.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Course Overview
This one hour online session looks at how we can improve our own mental health and wellbeing and develop resilience

'You will receive a zoom registration link via email around 48 hrs before the session. Please ensure that the email address that you book your space with is accurate and that you register for the session via zoom when you receive the link. If you are booking a space on behalf of another member of staff, please forward on the registration link once received.'

Why attend
Working in a school environment whilst extremely rewarding can at times be very challenging. Improving our own wellbeing can help to ensure we are in the best shape mentally to enjoy life and tackle whatever comes towards us in a positive way

What will it cover

Stress triggers - how to identify them

What is resilience

Building resilience- practical tools and techniques

Tips to create healthy habits to improve wellbeing

Who should attend
School staff both teaching and non-teaching
Cost: £50.00 per delegate
All costs are subject to VAT

All cancellations must be completed online at www.schoolimprovementliverpool.co.uk/myaccount at least 48 hours in advance.
Failure to cancel or non-attendance will incur full advertised costs.

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Course Overview This one hour online session looks at how we can improve our own mental health and wellbeing and develop resilience 'You will receive a zoom registration link via email around 48 hrs before the session.

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Developing resilience in children: Online Training- School Improvement Liverpool

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Developing resilience in children: Online Training- School Improvement Liverpool

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One free place on these sessions  for Liverpool schools.  Further places will be charged at £50 per delegate.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Course Overview
This one hour online session looks at how we can develop and build resilience in children and young people

'You will receive a zoom registration link via email around 48 hrs before the session. Please ensure that the email address that you book your space with is accurate and that you register for the session via zoom when you receive the link. If you are booking a space on behalf of another member of staff, please forward on the registration link once received.'

Why attend
Resilience is important for children's mental health. Building resilience can help children learn coping skills and find solutions to problems. Children with greater resilience are better able to manage stress, which is a common response to difficult events

What will it cover

What do we mean by resilience?

Developing a growth mindset

Reducing risk and developing resilience

The 7 C's of resilience

Who should attend
Teachers and pastoral staff
Cost: £50.00 per delegate
All costs are subject to VAT

All cancellations must be completed online at www.schoolimprovementliverpool.co.uk/myaccount at least 48 hours in advance.
Failure to cancel or non-attendance will incur full advertised costs.

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Course Overview This one hour online session looks at how we can develop and build resilience in children and young people 'You will receive a zoom registration link via email around 48 hrs before the session. Please ensure that the email address that you book your space with is accurate and that you register for the session via zoom when you receive the link.

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Top tips for a mentally healthy school: Online Training- School Improvement Liverpool

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Top tips for a mentally healthy school: Online Training- School Improvement Liverpool

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One free place on these sessions  for Liverpool schools.  Further places will be charged at £50 per delegate.
Suitable for Primary School settings

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Course Overview
This is an online session to look at Top tips for creating a mentally healthy school

'You will receive a zoom registration link via email around 48 hrs before the session. Please ensure that the email address that you book your space with is accurate and that you register for the session via zoom when you receive the link. If you are booking a space on behalf of another member of staff, please forward on the registration link once received.'

Why attend
Children's mental health and wellbeing is paramount. From September 2020 all primary schools will have to teach relationships education and health education There is a particular focus on mental wellbeing .This session will help school leaders make mental health a whole school priority

What will it cover
This 1 hour session will look at building on what you are already doing in your school for making mental health a whole school priority :

Creating a clear vision

Developing a policy

Talking mental health

Good PSHE provision for teaching about mental health

Staff wellbeing

Who should attend
Head teachers and senior leaders
Cost: £50.00 per delegate
All costs are subject to VAT

All cancellations must be completed online at www.schoolimprovementliverpool.co.uk/myaccount at least 48 hours in advance.
Failure to cancel or non-attendance will incur full advertised costs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Course Overview This is an online session to look at Top tips for creating a mentally healthy school 'You will receive a zoom registration link via email around 48 hrs before the session. Please ensure that the email address that you book your space with is accurate and that you register for the session via zoom when you receive the link.

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Supporting Children with Separation Anxiety

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Supporting Children with Separation Anxiety

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Given the current climate that we all find ourselves in, where most of us have been in lockdown for eight weeks now, it would probably be fair to say that for a lot of children and young people being at home is the new norm.

With the recent announcement that schools are reopening, for some pupils on 1st June, this may well be causing some pupils and parents / caregivers a lot of anxiety. It's scary out there. There are a lot of 'what if' questions that can't be answered. Being at home for many will have resulted in feelings that have ranged from feeling safe and secure and being fearful or cautious of going out, to craving the normality of how life was before lockdown.

The security that being at home has brought, may have formed the basis on which anxiety about returning to that normal has been building. This anxiety may well lead to separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is when someone is afraid of being separated from a person, persons, or even a pet. While many people associate separation anxiety with children, adults can experience the condition as well. (Medical News Today - June 2018).

For some pupils returning to school they may critically struggle with the demands of being separated from home or their parents. It might not just be the child but also parents / caregivers who feel the need to protect and this separation may bring about high levels of anxiety. Leading up to the return to school a child or young person's behaviour may well start to change. They may experience panic or panic attacks, start to display adverse behaviour - ranging from angry outbursts to silent and withdrawn. Sleep may become very disrupted and their appetites be affected. They may become quite distressed and come up with a raft of excuses and avoidance tactics as to why they cannot return to school.

Nobody likes to see a child in distress. From a school's perspective it is a good idea to identify a key person who can liaise regularly with the parent / caregiver prior to the impending start date. Give as much reassurance as you can and be as clear as you can about what the school day will look like. If possible, invite the parent and child into school so that they can re-familiarise themselves with the school layout and meet members of staff. You can discuss and explain then in more detail how the new school day will be. Encourage the parents to start with short periods of separation leading up to the start date. Meet the child at the door if possible and make the handover as quick and calm as possible. The longer the delay may reinforce the anxiety and parents and children can feed each other's anxiety. If the child separates from one parent more easily suggest that that parent drops the child off. For some pupils a part-time timetable / reintegration plan may be needed to be put into place.

Providing structure and routine unpin feelings of security. Set small achievable goals - these are great for self-esteem and wellbeing and are intrinsic feelings of doing something well. A small-stepped approach is the best way forwards. Starting a new day or the next session you may find that the child needs to repeat some previous steps. This all aids reassurance and helps build resilience. If there are changes coming up, ensure that the child is informed / prepared as far ahead as possible.

Keeping busy and getting lost in an activity helps them to forget about their worries. Encourage them to get involved in an activity that interests them but also to become involved in activities / interests of other people. This will help to rebuild friendships and relationships with peers. It is helpful for the pupil to have a safe, quiet space to go to if they are feeling anxious. Have some guidelines as to when and how the safe place can be used. Talking to the child and understanding their anxiety will help to re-establish a trusting relationship and help them to adjust. Every child reacts in a different way to being separated. Your efforts may not solve the issues, but empathy can only make things better. Being listened to can have a powerful healing effect.

Communication is key between all parties to help promote a smoother reintegration. Offer to call the child's parent to let them know they are ok. Or allow the child to make a quick one- or two-minute phone call for reassurance. A home - school diary is a good way of ensuring that the lines of communication stay open. Praise and positive outcomes can be recorded here.

Hopefully with a clear support plan in place reintegration will go relatively smoothly. If separation anxiety is excess and interferes with normal activities such as friendships, relationships and school and lasts for a sustained period of time, it may be a sign of a Separation Anxiety Disorder. In cases such as these a referral to an appropriate mental health service may be needed. Psychotherapy or Cognitive Behaviour Therapy by trained professionals may be offered. Left untreated can lead to complications, including depression and debilitating anxiety.

You may find the following websites helpful:

www.nspcc.co.uk/keeping-children-safe/coronavirus

www.mind.org.uk sections for parents, young people and professionals

www.helpguide.org lots of articles and advice

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Innovate My School - Supporting pupils with separation anxiety

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Given the current climate that we all find ourselves in, where most of us have been in lockdown for eight weeks now, it would probably be fair to say that for a lot of children and young people being at home is the new norm.

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Videos from the BBC Teach Class Clips collection
Suitable for KS2/3

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PSHE KS2 / KS3: When I Worry About Things

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A collection of short animated films that use powerful personal testimony to explore mental health issues from the perspective of young people.

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Coronavirus: supporting children who may be especially vulnerable during times of uncertainty

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Coronavirus: supporting children who may be especially vulnerable during times of uncertainty

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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We realise it can be difficult to know what to say to children about the global crisis (see earlier blog ' Coronavirus: helpful information to answer questions from children ').

Some children may be especially vulnerable at this time of uncertainty. This may include (but is not limited to) children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), children who are 'Looked After' and children who are deemed to be Children in Need. These children may need extra support to ensure that they maintain good levels of wellbeing.

Julia Clements and Paula Nagel, Place2Be's Principal Educational Psychologists, suggest some ways to support children who may be especially vulnerable at this time.

Communication

In line with the child's age, level of understanding and language development, explain in clear, simple terms, what coronavirus is. Let them know that adults are working hard to keep everyone safe and why there is a need for changes to their normal routine. The following resources may be helpful:

Focus on what will stay the same

For children who find change particularly stressful, reassure them about what will stay the same in their lives, despite all the changes. Many children will find it reassuring to be reminded that there is some consistency, for example, in where they live, who looks after them, the fact that school work and home work still needs to be done, the fact that they can still watch their favourite TV programmes etc.

Extra support

Some children may need particular support to help manage their anxiety or low mood. They may be particularly triggered by events such as seeing supermarket shelves emptying quickly - especially if they have experienced neglect or if particular foods become scarce or unavailable. Remember that a change in behaviour, such as restlessness, being more disruptive than usual or becoming quieter, may be underpinned by stress and anxiety.

The following resources may be helpful:

News & blogs

Prioritising children's mental health as they return to school

Former teacher and current Research Assistant at the University of Cambridge, Lauren Cross, writes a guest blog for Place2Be.

READ MORE

Lessons from New Zealand on returning to school in the 'new normal'

Dr Fiona Pienaar, Senior Clinical Advisor at Shout, shares her experiences of returning to school after lockdown.

READ MORE

"The value of the phone calls is more than I ever expected"

Emma Bell, Area Manager for Cardiff, reflects on the experience of supporting parents, children and families during lockdown.

READ MORE

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Coronavirus: supporting children who may be especially vulnerable

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We realise it can be difficult to know what to say to children about the global crisis (see earlier blog ' Coronavirus: helpful information to answer questions from children '). Some children may be especially vulnerable at this time of uncertainty.

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Supporting Children Through The Coronavirus Pandemic: lessons from the autistic community

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Supporting Children Through The Coronavirus Pandemic: lessons from the autistic community

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An article on The Conversation from Debra Costley

Associate Professor Education, University of Nottingham
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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During this time of unprecedented change, many children will be feeling the kind of uncertainty, lack of control and anxiety that is normally experienced by a high percentage of autistic children.

I am a researcher working on education strategies for children on the autism spectrum, and I have also worked as a special education teacher. I have researched in mainstream schools to see what works for autistic children, and how we can best support them to alleviate anxiety and maximise learning.

Some of the strategies that have been developed for children on the autism spectrum are of value to all parents and children at this time, because they are designed to be clearly communicated and to provide structure and certainty.

Here are three areas to focus on to help your child in a chaotic time, whether they are autistic or neurotypical.

Communication

For many children in the UK, their normal day-to-day life has been upended. Instead of going to school they are at home, perhaps with their parents now trying to educate them instead of their usual teachers. The children of key workers may still be in school, but with many of their peers absent and normal lessons stopped.

Autistic children often need support navigating new situations, and clear communication can help alleviate anxiety. Social Stories were developed by autism educator Carol Gray to help autistic children understand what is happening in a new situation.

A social story is usually a series of pictures with captions that explain what the situation is, what will happen, what the children are expected to do, and what the result will be. Carol Gray has written a range of social stories on pandemics and coronavirus and how children can help.

You could create your own version of a social story, explaining what is happening in your family and your community. The idea is that children can look at their social stories as often as they like to find reassurance and guidance on how they should be behaving and what they can expect to happen.

Structure and planning

Many children with additional learning needs have difficulties with " executive functions". These include planning, self-regulation, flexible thinking and working memory. This makes it difficult for children to focus, to follow directions, and to control their own impulses or behaviour. Providing a structure to follow can support them to complete tasks.

For all children, loss of their normal routine, changed ways of learning, and not knowing what will happen next will have an impact.

All children benefit from knowing what they are expected to do, how long it should take, and what will happen when they have finished their work. Planning and keeping to a routine will help children to understand when they need to do school work and when they can do other activities, like play in the garden (if they have one), do some art work, or cook.

Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock

I was involved in research that showed how important timetables were for all children in a class, not only those on the autism spectrum. You can create a visual timetable with your child of which activities they will do when. For young children, this can include pictures to represent activities, including learning, breaks and hand washing. Older children could colour code their subject timetables to show when they will be doing maths or English, for example.

Our research also found that the development of a work system was useful for all children in a class. At its simplest, this is a tray or folder that contains the work the child needs to complete during that morning or afternoon session. This is placed on the child's left hand side. They then complete the work as indicated on their timetable and tick it off when they have finished. All completed work is placed in another box or folder on their right hand side.

This gives a clear sense of direction, work to be completed, and satisfaction as the pile on the right becomes larger than the pile on the left. There is a lot of virtual work being set at the moment, but sticky notes or a list of set work in a notebook could be used to create your child's own preferred work system.

Make use of special interests

Many autistic children have an area of interest that they focus on and can learn an enormous amount about, and which they like to share with other people. We call this a "special interest".

Most children, whether autistic or neurotypical, have a special interest in something that is not necessarily related to a specific school subject. This might be space, animals, music or films. Now would be a great time to employ the knowledge that they have and encourage them to develop their own project based around their special interest.

It could include writing stories or poetry, drawing, collecting images from the internet, taking photographs, interviewing others about their experience of a particular subject, and putting it all together in a notebook or folder. The special project could be used as a reward for completing the agreed school work for the day.

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Supporting children through the coronavirus pandemic - lessons from the autistic community

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During this time of unprecedented change, many children will be feeling the kind of uncertainty, lack of control and anxiety that is normally experienced by a high percentage of autistic children. I am a researcher working on education strategies for children on the autism spectrum, and I have also worked as a special education teacher.

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Resources for Autistic People and Families

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Resources for Autistic People and Families

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Your Internet Explorer 11 browser is not supported by this site. Please upgrade to a recent browser for the best experience.

Find the latest guidance, updates and resources on coronavirus for autistic people, their families and professionals.

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Your Internet Explorer 11 browser is not supported by this site. Please upgrade to a recent browser for the best experience. Find the latest guidance, updates and resources on coronavirus for autistic people, their families and professionals.

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How To Support Children with SEND During Coronavirus- First Aid For Life

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How To Support Children with SEND During Coronavirus- First Aid For Life

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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How to Support Children with SEND through the Covid-19 Lockdown

During the covid-19 pandemic, self-isolating and staying at home are priorities to prevent spread of coronavirus. At the end of March 2020, the UK Government demanded the closure of schools until further notice. While this is a hard time for all parents, staying at home can be more disruptive to the lives and routines of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

No one expects parents to act as teachers or to provide the activities and feedback that a school or nursery would. Parents and carers should do their best to help and support their children with their learning while they are at home.

If your child usually goes to school but is currently at home, their school should be working to provide them with work and giving them feedback in a format that meets their needs. It is a good idea to contact the school if you are not already in touch.

Coronavirus and SEND

Although it isn't possible to cover every type of disability of special need, reachingfamilies.org.uk is a superb site that specialises in supporting SEND families. ReachingFamilies.org.uk has compiled the following links to specialist sites that might be able to help and support you during these unprecedented times. http://www.reachingfamilies.org.uk/coronavirus.html

Cerebral Palsy & Physical Disabilities

The government's guide on social distancing is a good starting point for people who are most at risk from the coronavirus.

Learning Disabilities

The government has provided guidance for adults with a learning disability about social distancing. This could be useful for parents who have a child/young person aged 16+. Access it here.

Autism

Carol Gray's social story is a helpful resource for helping your child or young person with autism to understand the current situation.

Mencap have also produced a helpful easy read document.

PMLD

If your child has a profound and multiple learning disability, you may find WellChild, the UK Children's charity for seriously ill children, a useful starting point.

Down Syndrome

The Down's Syndrome Association have produced an easy-read document about Coronavirus, which you can download here.

SEND education during covid-19

If you find yourselves having to isolate, you might find the following resources, compiled by Reaching Families, helpful.

In addition to the information below, Reaching Families have now published the first in a series of new fact sheets relating to the current pandemic. You can find the document, concerning Education Provision, in the coronavirus section on our fact sheets page.

Fordwater School have produced this lovely social story which helps to explain the Coronavirus to children with SEND. Social Story - 'My School is Closing'

West Sussex County Council have created a very helpful guide: Supporting children's wellbeing

Division of Educational and Child Psychology & British Psychological Society:
Support and advice for schools and parents/carers

Premier League Primary Stars: A wide collection of free, curriculum-linked activities to educate and entertain children at home.

Exercise and social distancing for families with children with SEND

Exercise is important for parents and children to support individual mental and emotional wellbeing. The government has clarified social distancing guidance for people whose disability or health needs requires them to exercise more than once a day.

Ordinarily, people may leave the house for exercise only once a day, for example to take a run or go for a cycle. This should be within the local area only, to minimise the risk of spreading the virus.

However, if your child has a health need or disability that means they need to exercise more than once a day, it is fine to do so. Similarly, if your child has to take a specific form of exercise beyond the local area, it's ok for you to take them there. This might be, for example, if your child has autism or learning disabilities.

The government advises that such exercise would ideally be in line with a care plan. And of course, it is still important to follow other social distancing rules such as keeping 2m away from other people.

If you find the information you read online about coronavirus confusing, visit our myth busting article here.

Read the full guidance on the gov.uk website.

Carer's Allowance during the Coronavirus outbreak

The government has changed the Carer's Allowance rules during the Coronavirus outbreak.

Carer's Allowance is the main benefit for carers. You qualify for Carer's Allowance if you provide at least 35 hours of care per week and your child is on the care component of Disability Living Allowance at the middle or highest rate or if they get the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment.

During the Coronavirus outbreak the government has said that a break in caring can be ignored if either the disabled person or their carer having Coronavirus symptoms.

Alongside this, the charity Carers UK say that they have been told by the Department for Work and Pensions that emotional support, such as that provided by telephone or social media, will count as care in assessing if a carer is providing at least 35 hours per week care.

This is likely to help those carers who don't share a household with the person that they look after and who may have reduced physical contact during the current outbreak.

For further information about caring for someone with coronavirus, visit our recent article here.

Those unable to work due to caring responsibilities can be furloughed by their employer

New guidance issued by the government on 4 April makes clear that employees who are unable to come to work due to caring responsibilities resulting from Covid-19 can be furloughed by their employer.

Originally it was thought that a worker could only be furloughed if there was no work for them to do and not where they were unable to attend their work or other reasons.

However, the revised guidance makes clear that this has now been extended to those unable to come to work due to caring responsibilities.

This means that if you are unable to work because you are caring for a child at home or because you are shielding a vulnerable household member, you might be able to get 80% of your wages paid via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

However, for this to happen your employer needs to agree to furlough you. They cannot be forced to do so if they don't want to.

The revised guidance is available at the gov.uk website.

Further resources

Here are a few links to on-line resources that you and your children might find interesting over the next few weeks. The list is not exhaustive and not all sites are appropriate for all children - but there is something for everyone. Here's our top picks:

Ted Ed: All sorts of engaging educational videos.
The Imagination Tree: Creative art and craft activities for the very youngest.
Twinkl: They are offering a month of free access to parents in the event of school closures. They also offer resources for children with special needs - look up SEN Resources on their website. Use the code UKTWINKLHELPS.

About us

First Aid for Life provides award-winning first aid training tailored to your needs - Please visit our site and learn more about our practical and online courses. It is vital to keep your skills current and refreshed.

Onlinefirstaid.com - is a wealth of award-winning, comprehensive, online first aid courses that can be completed from your home.

It is strongly advised that you attend a fully regulated Practical or Online First Aid course to understand what to do in a medical emergency. Please visit? https://firstaidforlife.org.uk?or call 0208 675 4036 for more information about our courses.

First Aid for Life is a multi-award-winning, fully regulated first aid training provider. Our trainers are highly experienced medical, health and emergency services professionals who will tailor the training to your needs. Courses for groups or individuals at our venue or yours.

First Aid for life provides this information for guidance and it is not in any way a substitute for medical advice. First Aid for Life is not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made, or actions taken based on this information.

Thank You

Special thank you to ReachingFamilies.org.uk for allowing us to share their great content about children with SEND during covid-19. Reaching Families was first established in 2008 by parent-carers to "...empower, inform and support parents and families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in West Sussex". We achieve our mission through the delivery of a wide range of high-quality projects and services, including:

Making Sense of it All

Their parent-carer guide, Making Sense of It All, is often referred to as the "parent-carer Bible" by West Sussex parents. Designed to inform and empower parents of children with SEND aged 0-14 it is full of information on a wide range of subjects including diagnosis, benefits & money matters, getting support for your child at school, accessing support from health and social care and local leisure opportunities. It also contains a directory of over 400 local and national organisations and an extensive jargon buster.

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How to Support Children with SEND through the Covid-19 Lockdown - First Aid for Life

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During the covid-19 pandemic, self-isolating and staying at home are priorities to prevent spread of coronavirus. At the end of March 2020, the UK Government demanded the closure of schools until further notice. While this is a hard time for all parents, staying at home can be more disruptive to the lives and routines of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

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Supporting Pupils with SEND During Coronavirus- NSPCC

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Supporting Pupils with SEND During Coronavirus- NSPCC

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Lessons aimed at Primary. Some ideas could be adapted for Secondary aged pupils.

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http://winstonswish.org/coronavirus/
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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A collection of printables that could be sent home for parents/carers to work through with their child or could be used in school on a 1:1 or small group basis.
Suitable for Primary students. May be suitable for some Secondary Students and those in Special Schools

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Podcast: How can we best support children and young people with their worries and anxiety?

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Podcast: How can we best support children and young people with their worries and anxiety?

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A podcast from Emerging Minds featuring Professor Cathy Creswell, University of Oxford; Dr Polly Waite, Universities of Oxford & Reading and Professor Helen Dodd, University of Reading.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Podcast: How can we best support children and young people with their worries and anxiety? - Emerging Minds

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Advice from various mental health researchers and professionals around supporting children and young people with worries and anxiety around the COVID-19 pandemic

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Support materials from Anxiety by Paul Stallard

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Support materials from Anxiety by Paul Stallard

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For more about this book see the publisher's webpage.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Table of Contents

Anxiety Problems in Childhood. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Dysfunctional Cognitions and Processes. Parental Behaviour and Childhood Anxiety. Assessment and Problem Formulation. Psycho-education, Goal Setting and Problem Formulations. Involving Parents. Emotional Recognition and Management. Cognitive Enhancement. Problem Solving, Exposure and Relapse Prevention. Common Problems. Materials and Worksheets. References.

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Anxiety: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with Children and Young People

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Cognitive behavioural therapy has proven to be an effective treatment for anxiety disorders in children and young people. This book provides an overview of CBT and explores how it can be used to help children with anxiety disorders. In Anxiety: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with Children and Youn

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A picturebook for children about worries in general and also about worries relating to coronavirus.
Suitable for EYFS/Primary (and some Special Schools)

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On Kooth young people will have 24-hour access to self-help materials as well as goal-setting and mood-tracking tools. The online service hosts moderated forums, allowing for peer-to-peer support and interactive messaging with counsellors.
For information see: https://www.liverpoolcamhs.com/support/kooth/
Kooth is for young people between the ages of 10 and 25.

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Kooth is your online mental wellbeing community. Access free, safe and anonymous

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A Parents’ Guide to Promoting Early Learning and Development at Home: Supporting Families During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Beyond 

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A Parents’ Guide to Promoting Early Learning and Development at Home: Supporting Families During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Beyond 

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https://www.skipforeyeducators.co.uk/booklet/covid19_familybooklet_poster.pdf
Suitable for Early Years settings

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A collection of resources featuring ideas for lessons/sessions based on anxiety and worries.
Aimed at Primary settings (may be suitable in some secondary special schools)

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Notre Dame Catholic College Anxiety and Stress Support Pack
Suitable for Secondary Schools

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Aimed at pupils in Primary settings.

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Support for parents/carers from Liverpool City Council's Education Psychology Service
Suitable for Early Years settings

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For children/young people to think about they can develop healthy routines
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Free Interactive Online Parenting Guides for Liverpool

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Free Interactive Online Parenting Guides for Liverpool

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Liverpool parents, carers and grandparents can learn about the stages their children go through and how to strengthen relationships with them in ways that will have lasting positive impact for the whole family. Based on the Solihull approach.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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We’re Mind, the mental health charity | Mind

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We're Mind, the mental health charity. We're here to make sure no one has to face a mental health problem alone.

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Articles for parents/carers from The Incredible Years

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Articles for parents/carers from The Incredible Years

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Carolyn Webster-Stratton, PhD., the developer of The Incredible Years® programs has authored many articles and research studies. Here are articles written especially for parents.

Special Download - Keeping Calm and Providing Supportive Parenting During the Coronavirus

These are challenging and unexpected times for families struggling with a growing list of major life issues including job loss, illness, financial loss, cancellations, school closures, and figuring out how to provide child care while working, or trying to work from home with children in the house. The goal is to stay safe and calm and figure out how to deal with this new life that will be anything but normal for a while. Here are a few tips for parents to consider with regards to keeping their children physically and mentally secure.

Keeping Calm and Providing Supportive Parenting During the Coronavirus

Spanish version Keeping Calm and Providing Supportive Parenting During the Coronavirus

Refrigerator Notes for Parents - Tips for Coping with Social Distancing

Refrigerator Notes for Parents - Tips to Help Children Cope with Social Distancing

Refrigerator Notes for Parents - Tips to Help Children Cope with Social Distancing - Spanish

A Letter from Dina to Kids During the Coronavirus

A Letter from Dina to Kids During the Coronavirus - Spanish

Home Activities for Young Children During the Coronavirus

Home Activities for Young Children During the Coronavirus - Spanish

Special Download - Tips for Grandparents Reaching Out to Children Remotely

Tips and activities for grandparents and other special friends and family members to reach out to children remotely.

Tips For Grandparents Reaching Out To Children Remotely

Tips for Grandparents - Spanish

Downloadable Handouts for Parents

Play and Coaching Handouts from Preschool Basic Program

Play and Coaching Handouts in Spanish

Praise, Encouragement and Incentives Handouts from Preschool Basic Program

Praise, Encouragement and Incentives Handouts in Spanish

Rules, Routines and Limit-Setting Handouts from Preschool Basic Program

Rules, Routines and Limit-Setting Handouts in Spanish

Positive Discipline Strategies Handouts from Preschool Basic Program

Positive Discipline Strategies Handouts in Spanish

Self-Regulation and Problem-Solving Handouts from Preschool Basic Program

Self-Regulation and Problem-Solving Handouts in Spanish

Tips for Teaching Children Emotional Regulation Skills

Puppet Play (Tips and Examples)

Encourage Child Learning

Reading with CARE with Babies

Reading with CARE with Toddlers

Reading with CARE with Preschoolers

Reading with Extra CARE with Children on the Autism Spectrum

Parents and Children Together, Let's Play

There is a widespread belief among adults in our society that the free and easy play times between parents and children are frivolous and nonproductive.

Emotional Regulation

Emotional regulation is the ability to control responses to arousing situations. Just as walking, talking and toilet training are developmental steps, emotional regulation is a developmental achievement. It is not present at birth.

Coping With Peer Problems and Teaching Friendship Skills

Parents can teach social skills by role playing with their children. Games, such as the conversation card game can help parents teach children these skills.

Helping Children Learn to Regulate Their Emotions

Emotions are responses to stimuli or situations that affect a person strongly. Children differ strikingly in their emotional responses and they also vary widely in their understanding of emotions, both their own and in others.

Responding to Dysregulation and Teaching Self-Regulation

When children are angry and dysregulated, parents may also feel angry and out-of-control and may respond by yelling, criticizing, or spanking. At these times, Time Out can provide time and space for the parent, as well as the child, to self-regulate. Children can learn that taking a Time Out can be a safe and secure place to calm down.

Time Out is One of Many Tools

Time Out to Calm Down is a non-punitive discipline strategy used strategically and sparingly in IY programs for parents, teachers, and children to promote and build children's emotional self-regulation skills. This building tool is reserved for times when a child is too physically angry or emotionally dysregulated to be able to respond rationally to other evidence-based behavior management approaches.

Rewards Can Give Children an Extra Boost

Good parents support their children with encouragement and praise, but occasionally kids need a little extra incentive to learn a particularly difficult behavior. That's where rewards can be helpful.

Responsive and Nurturing Parenting Sets the Stage

Did you know that one out of four social interactions with another child in preschool is aggressive? You can foster your children's social, emotional and academic development.

Don't Be Afraid to Praise

The purpose of praise is to increase positive behavior with the child's knowledge, to communicate that certain behaviors are desirable.

Lying

What to do; first, don't panic. Respond calmly. Like any other problem, lying represents another opportunity to help children learn.

Special Holiday Downloads - Free printable tips cards for Reducing Holiday Stress!

Tip #1: Remember to play!

Tip #2: Praise Positive Behaviors

Tip #3: Spontaneous Rewards

Tip #4: Use Persistence, Social and Emotion Coaching

Tip #5: "Unplug the Christmas Tree"

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Carolyn Webster-Stratton, PhD., the developer of The Incredible Years® programs has authored many articles and research studies. Here are articles written especially for parents. These are challenging and unexpected times for families struggling with a growing list of major life issues including job loss, illness, financial loss, cancellations, school closures, and figuring out how to provide child care while working, or trying to work from home with children in the house.

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Keeping Calm and Providing Supportive Parenting During The Coronavirus

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Keeping Calm and Providing Supportive Parenting During The Coronavirus

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An article from The Incredible Years
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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A resource to support anxieties surrounding Covid-19
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Supporting Bereaved Children and Young People during Covid-19 Pandemic

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Supporting Bereaved Children and Young People during Covid-19 Pandemic

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Information and resources from the Child Bereavement Network
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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The outbreak of Covid-19 means that many aspects of children's lives are changing. School is closed for many, lots of parents are working from home, and families are having to spend time apart when they would like to be together. The news is full of talk of the virus and the effect it is having.

Many children will have questions and worries about the virus, but those who have experienced the death of someone important or who have an ill family member might be particularly worried. This page has some tips about supporting bereaved children with worries and concerns about the virus.

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The outbreak of Covid-19 means that many aspects of children's lives are changing. School is closed for many, lots of parents are working from home, and families are having to spend time apart when they would like to be together. The news is full of talk of the virus and the effect it is having.

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Safe and reliable advice about young people’s mental health, created by experts and parents together
https://mindedforfamilies.org.uk/young-people
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Heads Together | Join the conversation | Mental Health

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Heads Together work to ensure that people feel comfortable with their own and their friends and family everyday mental health and well being.

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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On Thursday 30 November from 2:30am - 7:30am, you won't be able to contact Childline whilst we do some important maintenance to our systems. This means that 1-2-1 chats, calling and messages to Childline will be unavailable. You'll still be able to use the Childline website for advice and information.

If you're in danger or it's an emergency, you should always call 999

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Get help and advice about a wide range of issues, call us on 0800 1111, talk to a counsellor online, send Childline an email or post on the message boards.

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What Keeps Us Going Resource from Young Minds

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What Keeps Us Going Resource from Young Minds

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Resources on Academic Resilience from Young Minds

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Resources on Academic Resilience from Young Minds

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Academic resilience means students achieving good educational outcomes despite adversity.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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This framework summarises a set of ideas and practices that promote resilience. It was originally developed by Angie Hart and Derek Blincow, with help from Helen Thomas and a group of parents and practitioners.

This presentation introduces Academic Resilience and the concepts behind it, why it matters, what your school can do to promote it, and practical steps you can take.

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Academic Resilience Resources - YoungMinds

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This framework summarises a set of ideas and practices that promote resilience. It was originally developed by Angie Hart and Derek Blincow, with help from Helen Thomas and a group of parents and practitioners. This presentation introduces Academic Resilience and the concepts behind it, why it matters, what your school can do to promote it, and practical steps you can take.

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Find Your Feet Lesson Plan from Young Minds

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Find Your Feet Lesson Plan from Young Minds

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Activities to support transition from Year 6 to Year 7

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Supporting Schools and Colleges from Anna Freud Centre

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Supporting Schools and Colleges from Anna Freud Centre

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A guide to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of pupils and students during periods of disruption from the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families
Information for settings working with all ages

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Child Bereavement UK: Schools Information Pack

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Child Bereavement UK: Schools Information Pack

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Bereavement Support for Schools from School Improvement Liverpool

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Bereavement Support for Schools from School Improvement Liverpool

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Suitable for settings working with all ages

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Developing Empathy and Kindness Towards Others

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Developing Empathy and Kindness Towards Others

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A collection of resources to support children in being kind towards others and developing empathy.
Suitable for use in Primary Settings (resources could also be used in Secondary Special Schools)

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How Does Kindness Affect Your Mental Health?

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How Does Kindness Affect Your Mental Health?

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The theme of this year's Mental Health Week (18-24th May) is kindness. This article talks about the importance of kindness and how being kind impacts on our mental health. Also see this article.
Suitable for settings working with all ages

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1. Helping others feels good

There is some evidence to suggest that when you help others, it can promote physiological changes in the brain linked with happiness. ¹

Helping others can also improve our support networks and encourage us to be more active. ⁴ This in turn can improve our self-esteem. ³

2. It creates a sense of belonging and reduces isolation

Volunteering and helping others can also help us feel a sense of belonging, make new friends and connect with our community. 3,4 Face-to-face activities such as volunteering at a food bank can help reduce loneliness and isolation. ⁴

3. It helps keep things in perspective

Many people don't realise the impact that a different perspective can have on their outlook on life.

Helping others, especially those who are less fortunate than yourself, can help to put things into perspective and make you feel more positive. There is some evidence that being aware of your own acts of kindness, as well as the things you are grateful for, can increase feelings of happiness, optimism, and satisfaction. 5,6 Doing good may help you to have a more positive outlook about your own circumstances.

4. It helps make the world a happier place - it's contagious!

Acts of kindness have the potential to make the world a happier place. An act of kindness can improve feelings of confidence, being in control, happiness and optimism. ⁶

It may also encourage others to repeat the good deed that they've experienced themselves - contributing to a more positive community. ⁷

5. The more you do for others, the more you do for yourself

The benefits of helping others can last long after the act itself, both for you and them.

References

1. Post S. It's Good To Be Good: 2014 Biennial Scientific Report on Health, Happiness, Longevity, and Helping Others. Int J Pers Cent Med. 2014;2:1-53.

2. Pillemer K, Fuller-Rowell TE, Reid MC, Wells NM. Environmental volunteering and health outcomes over a 20-year period. Gerontologist. 2010;50(5):594-602.

3. Brown KM, Hoye R, Nicholson M. Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and Social Connectedness as Mediators of the Relationship Between Volunteering and Well-Being. J Soc Serv Res. 2012;38(4):468-83.

4. Pilkington PD, Windsor TD, Crisp DA. Volunteering and subjective well-being in midlife and older adults: The role of supportive social networks. Journals Gerontol - Ser B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2012;67 B(2):249-60.

5. Otake K, Shimai S, Tanaka-Matsumi J, Otsui K, Fredrickson BL. Happy people become happier through kindness: A counting kindnesses intervention. J Happiness Stud. 2006;7(3):361-75.

6. Kerr SL, O'Donovan A, Pepping CA. Can Gratitude and Kindness Interventions Enhance Well-Being in a Clinical Sample? J Happiness Stud. 2014;16(1):17-36.

7. Pressman SD, Kraft TL, Cross MP. It's good to do good and receive good: The impact of a 'pay it forward' style kindness intervention on giver and receiver well-being. J Posit Psychol. 2015;10(4):293-302.

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What are the health benefits of altruism?

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There is some evidence to suggest that when you help others, it can promote physiological changes in the brain linked with happiness. 1 Helping others can also improve our support networks and encourage us to be more active. 4 This in turn can improve our self-esteem.