Suffolk education mental health lead network

This is the first network meeting of the year, which will be taking place on Microsoft Teams from 3:45 to 4:45 on Thursday 15^th February.

We will be discussing how to gain and use the views of children and young people.

We’d love for you to bring along ideas, resources & experiences related to this topic to share with colleagues.

We will also plan to signpost people to freely available resources and talk through how best to use them.

Please email: EducationMHLeadNetwork@suffolk.gov.uk if you would like to attend.

Thank you to colleagues from education settings and services who were able to attend this network meeting led by Linda Brindle (Senior Psychotherapist) and Anna Mulvey (Assistant Psychologist) from the Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT).

The workshop included sharing a core understanding of low mood and what keeps it going. We looked at key factors that can support young people, including behavioural activation and relationship building. We moved on to focus on managing risk, including safety planning. Resource ideas were also shared at the end of the session.

You can download the presentation from the session titled ‘Working with Low Mood’.

Thank you to everyone who attended this network meeting facilitated by Kay Breton (Specialist Educational Psychologist from the Psychology & Therapeutic Services).

Kay shared a wide range of resources that complimented those shared on the Wellbeing in Education EBSA webpages.

This session covered the following elements. EBSA:

• What it is and why it is (and what else it may be called)?
• What could you do in education settings to help in terms of a graduated response?
• Other services / resources / related bits of information to be aware of.

You can download the presentation from the session titled ‘Emotional Based School Avoidance’.

This workshop is to increase knowledge and skills when supporting young people in school who may have experienced trauma.

It will include a brief introduction to understanding what we mean by trauma and consider the impact of early traumatic experiences on child development. It will focus on what you can do to support your student’s wellbeing and sense of psychological safety in the school environment. Resources and information around services will also be shared for when further support is needed.

In this network meeting, Graham Abbott, Mental Health Lead for Public Health along with Paul Hill whom is a STORM Suicide Prevention trainer delivered a section on Suicide Prevention.
If you missed this session, please see the PowerPoint presentation below.

This network meeting will explore emotional regulation. The session will be delivered by some of our NSFT colleagues and will consider the function of emotions and what can impact a child’s ability to regulate them.

Please email: EducationMHLeadNetwork@suffolk.gov.uk if you would like to attend (there is no cost attached).

This session was hosted by Beth Mosley, our NSFT (Norfolk Suffolk Foundation Trust) Psychologist in Schools Lead, and is aimed at Mental Health Leads based in educational settings.

It gave guidance on supporting young people who self-harm, and reference to support resources.

You can download this presentation from the session titled 'Understanding Young People's Self-harm'

Resources following the session 

Papyrus Safety Planning Tool

Useful information and advice for parents, carers and young people:

Self-harm in children and young people advice page

The Source website Self-harm advice for young people

Self-harm leaflets:

Self-harm - A guide for parents and carers leaflet - This leaflet has been designed with parents to provide helpful information and suggestions at a time when parents and carers may feel confused, powerless or uncertain about how to make sense of their child’s self-harming. 

Please fine the following presentation on staff wellbeing from the Education Mental Health Lead Network meeting that took place on 3 March, which was led by Kay Breton and Clare Darwin.

Let's Talk - Staff Wellbeing Presentation, (PDF, )

Sharing good practice: What contributes towards supporting Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing in your setting

Kay Breton and Claire Darwin led a reflective session allowing the opportunity to share effective strategies across a graduated response to supporting mental health and emotional wellbeing.

View the presentation 'A whole setting approach to promoting good mental health and wellbeing'. 

Click here for a printable PDF Version of this presentation.

We would like to thank all the educational settings who contributed to sharing best practice strategies across Suffolk.

Please see our 'What is a School or College Relational or Relationship Policy and Why have One?' presentation from our Mental Health Lead network meeting on 12 May 2022.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this session.

For this Mental Health Network meeting we had Educational Psychologist Dr. Esther Borrett and Inclusion Facilitator Kelly Francis deliver a 30 minute talk describing the theory around what it means to be ‘a trauma-informed school’ and why this is beneficial.

This was followed by Mental Health Lead and SENCo at Castle Hill Primary School Lou Pattinson who gave a brief overview of how her school became trauma-informed, and reflect on the impact that this has had for her school.

Download the Trauma Informed PowerPoint Presentation from this network meeting. 

Please see below the various resources that were shared during this session for your information.

• Episode 3 - Trauma Informed Schools Podcast - Alice Clarke (Educational Psychologist) talks to Lou Pattinson (Inclusion Lead at Castle Hill Infant and Junior Schools) about their journey to become a truly trauma-informed place.
• Trauma Informed School Infographic (PDF, 3.17MB)
• Anna Freud Self-care summer resources - to help children, young people and school staff practice self-care over the summer break
• Our People / When the Adults Change - If you would like to speak to Paul about training, please email Hello@WhenTheAdultsChange.com

This is our Mental Health Lead Network questionnaire - Please fill in to let us know about your experience of our meetings so far - only takes a few mins to complete but no pressure! We do use these to help guide our topic choices for future sessions.

This session will cover information on how schools can work together with parents and support them to support their children who may be struggling. It will also cover a brief overview of current mental health services, what is available and how they can be accessed.

The session will be run by one or two psychologists from the NSFT clinical psychology team.

We look forward to settings joining us for this next Mental Health Network meeting discussion. 

This mental health lead network meeting was an opportunity to reflect on the last year and shape the content for the coming year.

View presentation from September 2022 MH Network meeting - reflecting over the last year.

In this MH Lead network session we will be considering and reflecting on the role of the Designated Mental Health Lead, on what a job description might look like and on what this translates to in terms of typical weekly activities for our Suffolk DMHLs.

Thank you so much to those who were able to join this network meeting. 

We are highlighting three example resources that you may find helpful on the topic of staff wellbeing:

1. Wellbeing for Teachers Newsletter - This newsletter by the Wellbeing Service has advice to help staff look after their wellbeing.
2. Anna Freud 10 steps for school staff wellbeing and other school staff wellbeing ideas
3. Guidance on conducting confidential staff wellbeing surveys and promoting staff mental health and wellbeing

GOV.UK Mental Health Lead Training information - For those who are still interested in finding out more about the Gov funded training programmes for Senior Mental Health Leads.Links shared during meeting:

1. Anna Freud Mental Health Lead Training - One link to a particular example of a training provider. 
    
2. The Designated Mental Health Lead Planner: A Guide and Checklist for the School Year paperback - This book is written for Mental Health leads that a network member recommended is read ‘discerningly’ (“It is very comprehensive but you have to realise that this is not written for anyone who has MHL as a secondary role.”)
   
   
3. Anna Freud wellbeing measurement for school staff survey - An example of a staff wellbeing survey.