Initially the Be You Occupational Therapy service was offered to a selection of schools across different phases to pilot this initiative. 12 schools were approached with 10 out of these 12 schools engaging in this process.

Within school consultations completed so far there has been advice given on a variety of different topics. The consultations focus on identifying barriers for accessing learning and the school environment such as environmental factors, cognition, process skills, motor skills, social communication & interactional difficulties and managing transitions (changes throughout the day). By addressing and supporting schools to adapt to some of these barriers we hope to increase participation and engagement in school life.

You can view the evaluation data below.

The Peer mentoring programme is a preventative programme delivered directly into schools with their students or as a train the trainer course for educational staff to attend. The programme has been running successfully since October 2020 in trail blazer schools and in the academic year 23/24 across Northumberland as a whole. So far directly delivery in trail blazer areas with our Peer Education Worker has taken place in 35 schools. 13 schools in wave one covering Blyth and Hexham, 20 schools in Wave 3 Bedlington and Ashington and 2 schools in wave 9 Alnwick and Coquet. Resulting to date 362 children & young people achieving an AQA Unit award Scheme qualification in ‘Introduction to Peer Mentoring’.

This one-hour session is designed for school staff, offering practical insights into managing stress and worry in the education environment. The session focuses on normalising these emotions, promoting positive mental health and wellbeing, and introducing effective coping strategies. It also includes guidance on accessing support services for adults. Typically, the session is facilitated by two professionals, which may include our Senior Mental Health Lead Coordinator, Cygnus Support Coordinator, Educational Psychologist, or Educational Mental Health Practitioner.

• Understand how stress can effect wellbeing and resilience

• Understand some simple coping techniques and strategies

• To know some places to seek support from.

 This two-day/4 session course trains you as a Youth Mental Health First Aider (MHFAider®), giving you:

• An in-depth understanding of young people’s mental health and factors that affect wellbeing

• Practical skills and confidence to reassure and support a young person in distress

• Knowledge to help a young person recover their health by guiding them to further support

• Ability to support a young person with a long-term mental health issue to thrive

• Tools to look after your own mental wellbeing

This training will take place across 2 full days or 4 half day sessions and will include group activities, case studies, discussion, and skills practice. 

It’s clear that young people can struggle to get the support they need. Key figures in a young person’s life – parents, family members, teachers, tutors, carers, youth workers – can often spot when a young person is struggling but may not know how best to help.

The Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) course is for everyone who works with, lives with or supports young people aged 8-18. It helps give participants the skills and confidence to spot the signs of mental health issues in a young person, offer first aid and guide them towards the support they need. Early intervention can help a young person’s recovery and stop a mental health issue from getting worse.  The course won't teach you to be a therapist, but we will teach you to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis - and even potentially stop a crisis from happening. 

By choosing MHFA England® training, you are joining England’s largest community of MHFAiders® and contribute to improving the mental health of the nation.

There is an Initial Assessment session followed by up to 8 support sessions of 50-60 minutes duration.

This support may be through giving space for the client to discuss their own issues and difficulties and the impact on their wellbeing, or the issues presenting in their child/children and the impact on them; working collaboratively with Amanda on strategies and tools to support themselves or help support their child’s wellbeing; providing information and resources for the client, signposting to other services or organisation, such as local or national charities and statutory bodies, that can provide support or guidance. 

If clients are interested in peer-support there’s opportunity to initiate and develop parent and carer groups in wave locations with facilitated support.

Referral is through a school staff member using the referral form available on the padlet, or the parent or carer can self-refer via Cygnus Support website contact page Be You Programme.

The training covers

• Introduction to Emotional Health and Wellbeing​

• Governor Responsibilities ​

• School Responsibilities​

• Staff Wellbeing​

• Pupil Wellbeing

• Understand their role regarding MHWB

• Understand what schools should be doing regarding MHWB

• How to promote positive MHWB for both pupils and staff and measure the impact of provision.

Further evaluations to be completed to assess the impact of this training package.

What is it?

The whole school approach menu of support can be found here Be You Whole School Approach Menu of Support with links to individual padlets for the whole school approach menu topics which are listed below. Each padlet has a collection of resources which have been designed by the Be You team to help schools across the county to inform and support pupils, staff and parents with common mental health challenges.

MHST Schools can also book support for the delivery of any of these materials by contacting us at Beyou@northumberland.gov.uk

Each topic includes assemblies for primary and secondary pupils, individual class workshops, parent/carer workshops, staff training and information leaflets.

Topics:

·        Exam Stress

·        Transition

·        Worry and anxiety

·        Low Mood

·        Mindfulness

·        Emotional Regulation

·        Healthy Friendships

·        Self-esteem

·        Resilience

Why are we doing it?

The role of Mental Health Support Teams is to focus on improving mental health support for children and young people, particularly within schools and colleges. We recognise that education staff are under increasing pressure and our resources are designed to support a whole school approach to mental health.

Evidence Base

Research is growing about the effectiveness of a whole school approach to mental health in schools;

‘Providing students with opportunities to learn about mental health within the curriculum is central to the whole-school approach.’ Glazzard, 2019

‘School Based Interventions are valuable tools for students with mental health problems if evidence-based cognitive-behavioural interventions are applied’ Paulus et al. 2016

‘Overall effectiveness reported in the included studies was significant for the most part effectiveness of school-based psychological interventions aimed at improving student mental health and well-being’ Šouláková et al. 2019

The meetings are a combination of traiing, peer-support, information sharing. The themes covered are coproduced with Northumberland SMHLs. An example of some of the themes include...

• CYPS- What to do before referral (expectations on schools) address any misconceptions, clarify processes. Q&A

• PMHW service core offers & referral routes / consultation offers etc and how this part of the service links with the Be You team & delivery models . 

• Developing Resilience in Your School

• Voluntary Organisation Speed Dating  

• Embedding Wellbeing in Policy 

This is an annual event planned for school Senior Mental Health Leads. This is a day of celebration, CPD with guest speakers from local services as well as comissioned key notes.

The conferences delivered so far have been...

Worrying Well 2022

Relationships Matter 2023

Relationships Still Matter 2024

Relationships Belong 2025

• Evaluate the content of the conference

• Gauge their confidence in applying the tools/ techniques shared.

• Comment on what they will do differently as a result of the conference.

The Northumberland CARE Project provides additional support to schools to develop relational practice in their settings.

This additional support involves Assistant Educational Psychologists (AEPs) fascilitating various evaluatory measures, this has included focus groups with pupils, parents and/or staff members; questionnaires; and solution focus action planning.

C.A.R.E Whole-School Training Session (2 hours)

This session is facilitated by professionals from Be You MHST, Northumberland EP Service, Emotional Wellbeing & Behaviour Support Service HINT , The Virtual School, and The Primary Mental Health Team. To date 41 schools in Northumberland have received this training.

Training Objectives:

The training is designed to provide insights and practical strategies to support educators in creating a positive and emotionally supportive learning environment by:

• Developing a deeper understanding of attachment theory – Gain knowledge of how early attachment experiences shape students' emotional, social, and cognitive development, and how this influences their behaviour in the classroom.

• Exploring the impact of trauma on learning and behaviour – Learn about the effects of trauma on the brain, behaviour, and learning, and how it can manifest in students’ emotional and academic performance.

• Understanding how to implement relational approaches – Discover how building strong, supportive relationships with students can enhance their well-being, foster resilience, and create a safe space for learning. This will include practical approaches for integrating these strategies into everyday classroom practice.

Audience: The training is designed to be delivered to the entire school staff, including teachers, support staff, school leaders, and other adults who interact with children and young people. The goal is to ensure there is a shared understanding of attachment, trauma, and relational approaches, and that the school can develop how these concepts are applied in the setting by all adults.

• increased knowledge of the impact of early experiences and trauma

• learned something that will change/ influence their practice

  
  

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The programs are cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) based aimed at ages 4 to 18 years to help build their social and emotional resilience.​

There are four programmes:

Fun friends - 4-7years

Friends for Life - 7-11 years

My Friends Youth - 11-15 years

Adult Resilience - 15 + years.

All programmes cover:

• Kindness and empathy ​

• Identifying body clues and relaxation​

• Learning to pay careful attention and mindfulness​

• Changing “red” thoughts to “green” thoughts​

• Choosing thumbs up choices instead of thumbs down choices​

•  Identifying values based role models Identifying values based support networks ​

• Exploring step plans to achieve goals ​

• Solution finding plans ​

• How to give back to the community​

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The programmes are evidence-based and endorsed by the World Health Organisation as an effective treatment and prevention of anxiety and depression.​

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It aims to teach children life skills, to normalise states of emotional distress and to develop self regulation and confidence.​

Periodically the programme is delivered by an Assistant Educational Psychologist. The sessions are evaluated and impact measures are produced.

Post evaluations are also completed with parents and carers.

A range of resources to support schools in the development of their attachment aware, trauma-informed and relational practices.

• There is an implementation guide that has been co-produced by the Northumberland Support Teams in collaboration with local schools.

• Some relational policy guidance which has been co-produced by the Northumberland Support Teams in collaboration with local schools. The policy guidance aims to support schools in writing and reviewing a trauma-informed, attachment aware relational policy for your school. 

• Northumberland Schools CARE padlet of resources to support schools with the implementation of this approach.

• Relationships Matter Conference Padlet with videos and presentations from the multi-agency conferences.

·        A wonderful course, very information and well structured.

·        I really enjoyed the opportunities to discuss the subject matter with colleagues and staff from other settings. The course lead was very helpful in answering questions and supporting the group through the learning and content.

·        Amanda was a fantastic lead instructor. She sensitively guided us through the course and was informative throughout. I particularly liked the use of 'characters'. Reflecting on the characters each session helped us put our understanding immediately into practice. It was great to create an action plan for the characters at the end too.

·        Brilliant Course. Amanda was very engaging and extremely knowledgeable.

·        I thoroughly enjoyed this course and will defiantly be using the knowledge I have gained in my everyday practice.

·        The course was engaging and well-paced. Considering how heavy the topic can be, the delivery and instruction made the course a lot easier to manage mentally.

·        The instructor was absolutely fantastic. She was extremely knowledgeable, made the activities really engaging and ensured the course was a safe and open space for discussion.

·        I have no areas of improvement for this course and the way it was delivered as it as all around a brilliant learning and collaborative experience. This was a very interesting course, delivered really well. The fact it was interactive made it much easier to retain facts.