Children and young people's wellbeing

There are currently no PD workshop dates confirmed, we will keep you updated.

SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and mental health go hand-in-hand when supporting children and young people's health and wellbeing.

Please see below for where to go for SEND support and information.

Childhood Neurodivergence Workshops for parent and carers -  Summer Term 2025

Neurodivergence includes conditions that people are born with including: autism, ADHD, learning disability and learning disorders. 
There are free virtual Zoom workshops available to support families on the East and West Suffolk Neurodevelopmental Pathway, which explore nurturing the unique strengths of neurodivergent children and young people and provide advice on how to support them with the challenges they face. To view available workshops go to Suffolk Local Offer website workshops page.

 Important information for schools

Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (SNEE ICB)  Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopmental Disorder (NDD) Pathway referral process and guidance for families who require an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis, can be found on the Suffolk Local Offer website.

Also look at ADHD and Autism, and wellbeing information on the Emotional Wellbeing Gateway website

Kooth - Online emotional wellbeing support in Suffolk for 11-25 year olds

Kooth is a commissioned online counselling service providing a free, safe and non-judgemental place for young people to connect and share with others their worries and know that they are not alone.
Young people can access the following support via Kooth:

• Self-help materials,
• Live moderated discussion forums
• Tools such as online journals and goal trackers
• 1-2-1 chat sessions with professional Kooth counsellors from 12pm-10pm weekdays and 6pm-10pm weekends.

Kooth services are completely anonymous and a fantastic way for young people to get the help and support they need, with no long waiting times or referral process like other mental health services.

Kooth offers schools and professionals who work with young people:

• KoothTalks for Professionals
• KoothKlass sessions- Kooth classroom webinars
• Kooth Healthcare Hub - This gives lots of information about the Kooth service with video intros and digital resources to signpost young people to.
• A Suffolk Kooth Engagement Lead person who is available to attend wellbeing events to provide talks or a stand. Contact our Kooth Lead person, Eloise Pilcher your invite requests: epilcher@kooth.com

Kooth offers parent and carers:

• Kooth parent and carer resources.

Kooth and Emotional Wellbeing Leaflet Requests

If you would like to request a pack of Kooth posters and cards, as well as other emotional wellbeing leaflet resources for your school, organisation or team, please email the CYP Engagement Hub at: Engagmenthub.enquiries@suffolk.gov.uk 

Recognising the collective trauma and heightened anxiety following the dreadful situation in Ukraine, we have gathered the following resources to help support children and young people.

This YouTube video 'Supporting our children in traumatic times', presented by Dr Tina Rae. Also see her blog page for more useful advice.

The following information and resources maybe useful to help support refugee and asylum-seeking children who have experienced trauma:

• UK Trauma Council website
• How to deal with Childhood Trauma - Anna Freud Centre
• Suffolk County Council | Refugees, war and conflict.
• Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) Group - UASC is a safe and empowered space for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people aged 14-25 years old, who have been in care, experienced the care system, or are a care leaver, to meet other young people, and help shape change across many services to support them.

• Children and Young People's Mental Health Support Services
• Psychology and Therapeutic Service (PTS) Supporting Return to Education (Secondary)
• Psychology and Therapeutic Service (PTS) Supporting Return to Education Settings (Nursery & Primary)
• Looking after your mental health and wellbeing and that of the children and young people you support
• Emotional Wellbeing Gateway website - search for mental health support services
• The Source website - Mind section and wellbeing directory for young people in Suffolk
• Kooth - Provides free online emotional wellbeing support to 11-25 year olds in Suffolk.
• PACT Parents and Carers Together - Provide free support to parents and carers of children or young people with a mental health issue.
• YoungMinds Charity
• ChildLine

Five tips for people with anxiety

• Five tips for children with anxiety (pdf. 388KB)
• Five tips for young people with anxiety (pdf. 510KB)
• Anxiety in children and young people
• The Source anxiety advice for young people 

Watch the this YouTube video 'Keep cool - anxiety', where Young people share and explore how they keep cool when experiencing anxiety. 

Training

• How to manage anxiety on the return to school
• Managing anxiety workshop part 1
• Anxiety workshop part 2 

Anxiety support services

• Kooth
• The Source - anxiety advice for young people in Suffolk 
• Jot the friendly robot wellbeing campaign for children
• YoungMinds website
• Wellbeing Service
• Emotional Wellbeing Gateway - anxiety advice for families

Resources

• Wellbeing Service
• The Source - depression advice for young people
• YoungMinds
• Emotional Wellbeing Gateway - depression information for families

Please find useful information below for School staff and professionals supporting young people

• Self-Harm Toolkit Guidance for school staff supporting children and young people 
• The Source website - self-harm advice for young people
• Emotional Wellbeing Gateway - self-harm information for families

For information and advice around helping children and young people sleep better, go to:

• Sleep resources page
• Emotional Wellbeing Gateway sleep advice page for families

Services and organisations that can help with loss and bereavement:

Cruse bereavement care booklets - Child Bereavement Care has a number of booklets for helping children understand about loss on their website. They also have a support line for families (0808 808 1677), and offer training webinars to professionals.

Children and bereavement - This is an advice page is aimed at parents and professionals from the Emotional Wellbeing Gateway website.

Bereavement and young people - This advice page is also from the Emotional Wellbeing Gateway website, and is aimed at helping parents and professionals to support a young person who is experiencing loss and grief.

When someone dies - This is a bereavement advice page aimed at young people from The Source website.

Traumatic bereavement resources 

The UK Trauma Council, and Anna Freud Centre traumatic bereavement resources 

Anna Freud booklet - Working with young children and families who have been bereaved.

Having an ELSA in your school will mean you are able to offer interventions and planned programmes of support to children experiencing emotional, social and behavioural difficulties.

To find out more information visit Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) Training and Supervision and Elsanetwork.org

Resources and support to help children and young people cope with exams

• Exam Resilience - Module 1
• Exam Resilience - Module 2 Study Skills & Problem Solving
• Exam Resilience - Module 3  Managing Thoughts and Feelings
• Exam Resilience - Module 4 Putting it all together
• The Source website for Young People - Planning for exams
• Kooth 

These family leaflets were originally co-produced with the 'Suffolk Parent Carer Network' SPCN, a group of parent/carers (who has since been replaced by the Suffolk Parent Carer Forum)

Five Tips for going back to school

• Five Tips for Families, going back to school with Anxiety (pdf. 489KB)
• Five Tips for Families, going back to school with Autism (pdf. 519KB)
• Going back to Primary School (pdf. 516KB)
• Going back to Secondary School (pdf. 569KB)

Also see:

• What to do if your child is anxious about going back to school

Five Tips for people with Autism

• Five Tips for Children with Autism (pdf. 490KB)
• Five Tips for Young People with Autism (pdf. 464KB)

Also see these useful websites:

• Suffolk Local Offer

Five Tips for coping with Self-Harm 

• Five Tips for helping Children that Self-Harm (pdf. 472KB)
• Five Tips for helping Young People that Self-Harm (pdf. 478KB)

Also see:

• Self-harm in Children and Young People 
• The Source for young people self-harm advice

Five Tips for people with Challenging Behaviour

• Behind Challenging Behaviour in Primary School (pdf. 700KB)
• Behind Challenging Behaviour in Secondary School (pdf. 816KB)

Positive Self-Talk Rainbows

• Positive Self-Talk Rainbows for Primary School (pdf. 998KB)
• Positive Self-Talk Rainbows for Secondary School (pdf. 1.5MB)

Body image can affect children's health and wellbeing, social relationships and how they see themselves fit into the wider world. Research shows children are questioning their bodies at a younger and younger age.

Below school staff can find resources to help support their young people to be body positive and raise awareness of unrealistic messages around body perfection that we are subconsciously exposed to everyday in the media and around us.

The Body Happy Org - are a charity organisation that provides lots of useful body happy resources to help families and schools teach about what body image is and how it impacts children and young people.

 Also explore information and advice on Body Image from these other places:

The Source website - body image advice for young people

The Mix for young people

Young Minds Charity for young people

BEAT Online support groups for young people with an eating disorder 

In view of recent events and the impact that Storm Babet has sadly had on some of our schools, staff and pupils in Suffolk, we have put together the following information which we hope you may find helpful.

Flooding Support

Children and Young People-and-Flooding (PDF) - This report was produced as part of a project run with two school communities in 2014 who suffered significant flooding. It helps to highlight some of the consequences flooding has on children and young people. 

Some of the key points from the above report are as follows:

• Children need to have those in school and in the community notice and acknowledge the significant flooding that has happened and how it has impacted so severely on their lives.
• Children often feel isolated as it seems this has happened just to them and not happened to others.
• It is very helpful and important that the children can share their experiences with others who have also been flooded. It can be within their school and between schools.
• Research has found children want to know what is happening. They want to know about flood planning, what is happening when there is flooding and what it going to happen after the flooding.
• Research found children want a voice, they want to be heard and be taken into account.
• Those supporting children who have had their homes flooded must bear in mind the children and young people will have had their everyday practical lives changed significantly. They could be living with other people, have no access to their own things, they may have lost access to computers, printers etc.

The video below was produced as a result of the above research, and is moving to hear the emotional experiences of flooding on young lives and should be seen by teachers and students.

What can schools do to help children impacted by flooding?

It may be helpful to have some sessions with the children who are impacted by the flooding run as follows:

Having the opportunity to talk and share feelings about

• What has happened?
• What is happening now?
• What is going to happen?

Professor Stevan Hobfoll, a leading authority on Stress and Resiliency, looked at what helped following traumatic events across communities worldwide and from this he developed five principles that contribute to creating the best environment for recovery. These are, we feel are very helpful and are widely shared by psychologists: Critical incidents: Five principles to plan for the unplannable

A national effort is being made to support children, young people and families with the recent social unrest, racism, violence and protests that have occurred across the UK.

Below are resources that might be helpful in supporting children and families:

• Sky News' For Your Information show - a short video with advice for young children who may be afraid after the recent stabbings in Southport, by Laverne Antrobus at The Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust.
• The NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) resource: Talking to children about racism
  
•  Save the children: Talking about distressing current events with kids
• How to speak to children about trauma and tragedy – guidance issued by the British Psychological Society
• UK Trauma council toolkit on childhood trauma, migration and asylum
• National resources on NCL Waiting Room, the leading resource hub for mental health and wellbeing support in North Central London, such as:
  - Coping strategies for anxious times
  - Building resilience leaflet
  - Doing what matters in times of stress
  - Beacon house trauma resources - free resources to support people who have experienced trauma and adversity
  - Hope for the young - national charity offering mentoring and advocacy for young refugees and asylum seekers.
• The Source website - Racism support for young people in Suffolk
• The Source website - Bullying and Hate Crime advice for young people. - includes details for how to report a hate crime.