Mental Health Support

Schools play an important role in supporting the wellbeing of children and young people at a time when they are experiencing lots of physical, emotional and social changes. 

For some children, this stage of growing up can sometimes become overwhelming or difficult to manage, and it can be made worse by life events such as changing schools, exams, challenging home circumstances, bullying or difficult friendships. 

 We are delighted that our school has been selected to take part in a new, national programme to help make mental health support for children and young people more available when they need it.

As well as the support that we offer in school, including from our Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) and Mental Health Lead, Mrs Carter, we are now one of over 70 schools in Gloucestershire who are able to make referrals to access further in-school from NHS Mental Health Support Teams. 

We hope that these teams will provide valuable support to our pupils to help them with life’s ups and down, for example, with issues such as anxiety, friendship concerns, work-related stress and challenging behaviour.

Mental Health Support Teams have been put into schools across Gloucestershire to tackle the challenges young people face, helping them to feel more resilient, arming them with techniques to look after themselves and strategies to help them cope better with life’s ups and downs. This may involve group work and/or individual, one-to-one support, either in school or elsewhere. Where appropriate, the Mental Health Support Team will also link up with the specialist mental health services in Gloucestershire. The teams will also support parents and teachers with information and tips about how best to help children and young people who are experiencing difficulties.

The teams are made up of Education Mental Health Practitioners, Primary Mental Health Workers, TiC+ Counsellors and Team Managers. They will travel to each school for meetings with staff to discuss any children and young people they think may benefit from their support. If a child is refusing to go to school, they will also work with families to help the child get back to school.

If you are concerned about your child and would like some support, please contact our School Mental Health Lead for an initial discussion. They will be in touch with our teams regularly.

Mental Health Lead: Mrs Deb Carter  Contact Details: dcarter@avening.gloucs.sch.uk

Mental Health Support Team Parent Information Letter