Children and young people
Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) are part of a new government initiative that aims to promote good emotional wellbeing and mental health by supporting children and their families through prevention and early intervention. EWPs are based in schools.
What support do Emotional Wellbeing Practitioners offer?
There are a number of different ways that we may be able to support you:
- Individual support (8-12 sessions) for young people experiencing worries or low mood. As this is a low intensity approach, it is most suitable for young people who are experiencing mild to moderate difficulties, who feel motivated to address any difficulties they may be experiencing and whom have not received significant previous input from mental health services;
- Parent work is the primary offer of support for primary aged children who are experiencing mild to moderate difficulties with anxiety, low mood, or behavioural difficulties. We can offer both digital and face to face support to parents, with the aim of equipping parents with the skills to support their child to overcome their difficulties.
- Groups and workshops for young people on topics such as coping with exam stress, poor eating habits (not eating disorders), sleep problems and how to look after your emotional wellbeing;
- Groups and workshops for parents on topics such as understanding their child’s behaviour and/or anxiety, poor eating habits (not eating disorders), sleep problems, supporting their child with exam stress.
- Supporting the school to develop a ‘whole school approach’ to emotional wellbeing and mental health.
How can you access this support?
For the type of support being offered by EMHPs, it has been found that when young people request this support from themselves it is most effective. Therefore, we have a 'request for support' process whereby you can complete a brief form and tick which type of support they would like to receive. If you would like to access this support, please speak to the senior mental health lead in your school.
Autism and sleep resources
We have worked closely with a researcher at University College London and a talented group of autistic young people to create a leaflet and animation about what helps autistic teenagers to get a good night’s sleep. Most sleep advice is for the general population, so it is helpful to share information which specifically focuses on autistic young people. This project is particularly special because it is brought to life by a song and music video created by some members of the group.
You can read the original research paper here: Sleep Project research paper
You can view and download the leaflet here: Sleep Project leaflet
The co-produced animation about what helps autistic young people to get a good night’s sleep can be viewed below.
Full version
Short version
A Good Night's Sleep - Learning about sleep from autistic young people
Other resources
Kent Resilience Hub - The Kent Resilience Hub is a resource which has been created to help young people, parents and carers, staff and practitioners to understand emotional wellbeing and resilience. Further information around national and local offers of support can be found on their website.
SEND Local Offer - A local offer is for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25 years. It provides information and support services available to families in their local area.
Parents/Carers
Co-Cat/OSI
We have a new, exciting, and time-limited offer for parents of primary school aged children, who are experiencing difficulties with anxiety.
Co-Cat, which is also known as OSI (Online Support and Intervention for Child Anxiety), is an online platform designed to help parents to learn tools and techniques to help their child (aged 5 to 12 years old) to overcome difficulties with anxiety.
Parents work through weekly online modules that contain videos, quizzes, and interactive worksheets. Parents are also supported by a weekly telephone/video call appointment with a clinician. You can access OSI at a convenient time for you using any electronic device!
This support may be suitable for those children who are experiencing problems with anxiety, such as:
- Difficulties being away from caregivers
- General worries
- School worries
- Bedtime fears
- Social worries
- Phobias (e.g. spiders, dogs, injections)
- And more!
If you would like to find out more about this offer of support, please speak to the senior mental health lead within your school, or a member of the Kent Emotional Wellbeing Team or Medway Emotional Support Team.
Autism and sleep
We have worked closely with a researcher at University College London and a talented group of autistic young people to create a leaflet and animation about what helps autistic teenagers to get a good night’s sleep. Most sleep advice is for the general population, so it is helpful to share information which specifically focuses on autistic young people. This project is particularly special because it is brought to life by a song and music video created by some members of the group.
You can read the original research paper here: Sleep Project research paper
You can view and download the leaflet here: Sleep Project leaflet
The co-produced animation about what helps autistic young people to get a good night’s sleep can be viewed below.
Full version
Short version
A Good Night's Sleep - Learning about sleep from autistic young people
Online parent County-wide workshops
Our online workshops offer information around key topics to help understand what is going on for your child and strategies to support them, based on the latest evidence and practice.
We currently offer workshops titled:
- Understanding ADHD
- Understanding Anxiety
- Understanding Autism
- Understanding Behaviour
- Understanding Resilience
- Understanding Sleep and Autism
We also offer online workshops for parents/carers with children and young people who attend Special Educational Needs Schools. Topics include:
- Understanding Behaviour and Autism
- Understanding Sleep and Autism
If you would like to join, please express your interest with your child’s school so that they can send you the link. If you have any questions, please speak to your child’s school.
Our workshops are held on Microsoft Teams. You do not need an account to join. You will need access to the internet.
Currently, these workshops are only available to parents/carers of children attending an Emotional Wellbeing Team or Emotional Support Team school. Please speak to your child’s school or check our website for our list of schools.
Additional support
Kent Resilience Hub
The Kent Resilience Hub is a resource which has been created to help young people, parents and carers, staff and practitioners to understand emotional wellbeing and resilience. Further information around national and local offers of support can be found on their website.
Kent SEND Local Offer
A local offer is for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25 years. It provides information and support services available to families in their local area. Further information about the SEND local offer can be found here.
Medway SEND Local Offer
Information around the Medway SEND local offer can be found here — Medway SEND Local Offer. Additionally, more information about support avaiable in Medway can be found here — Medway child health
Charlie Waller Memorial Trust - resources for parents
Free resources and downloadable packs for parents on depression and self-harm here.
Anna Freud Centre
Advice and guidance for parents and carers to help them support a child or young person experiencing poor mental health or wellbeing here.
Professionals
How to access support - Enquiry reviews
In order for us to create a Whole School approach offer alongside you or to accept “Requests for Support” (referrals) from Children and Young People in your setting it is vital that we have time to consult and liaise with you. We call this process: “Enquiry Review”. Our service aims to ensure the Enquiry review process is meaningful so when a family are encouraged to complete a request for support we are already confident that we can offer them an appropriate intervention in a timely manner.
We have learnt that when Requests for Support are completed without an enquiry review, it can lead to a higher number of requests coming forward where the need cannot be met by our team. This can lead to disappointment for the family and loss of hope and trust in emotional wellbeing and mental health services.
We are keen to be able to say YES! as often as possible, and to be clear in what format this “YES” might take from the variety of offers available.
If your school is open to the Kent Emotional Wellbeing Team or the Medway Emotional Support Team, we can explore support options for individual’s and their families within Enquiry Reviews, which includes discussing Request for Support forms, identifying individuals for groups, developing tailored interventions, and selecting universal offers.
If you already have these scheduled with a member of our team, ensure when you attend you have Children and Young People in mind to discuss that fit the mild to moderate range of difficulties.
Please speak with our clinicians within your school if you would like to arrange an Enquiry Review.
Co-Cat/OSI
We have a new, exciting, and time-limited offer for parents of primary school aged children, who are experiencing difficulties with anxiety.
Co-Cat, which is also known as OSI (Online Support and Intervention for Child Anxiety), is an online platform designed to help parents to learn tools and techniques to help their child (aged 5 to 12 years old) to overcome difficulties with anxiety.
Parents work through weekly online modules that contain videos, quizzes, and interactive worksheets. Parents are also supported by a weekly telephone/video call appointment with a clinician. You can access OSI at a convenient time for you using any electronic device!
This support may be suitable for those children who are experiencing problems with anxiety, such as:
- Difficulties being away from caregivers
- General worries
- School worries
- Bedtime fears
- Social worries
- Phobias (e.g. spiders, dogs, injections)
- And more!
If you would like to find out more about this offer of support, please speak to the senior mental health lead within your school, or a member of the Kent Emotional Wellbeing Team or Medway Emotional Support Team.
Autism and sleep
We have worked closely with a researcher at University College London and a talented group of autistic young people to create a leaflet and animation about what helps autistic teenagers to get a good night’s sleep. Most sleep advice is for the general population, so it is helpful to share information which specifically focuses on autistic young people. This project is particularly special because it is brought to life by a song and music video created by some members of the group.
You can read the original research paper here: Sleep Project research paper
You can view and download the leaflet here: Sleep Project leaflet
The co-produced animation about what helps autistic young people to get a good night’s sleep can be viewed below.
Full version
Short version
A Good Night's Sleep - Learning about sleep from autistic young people
Additional support
Kent Resilience Hub
The Kent Resilience Hub is a resource which has been created to help young people, parents and carers, staff and practitioners to understand emotional wellbeing and resilience. Further information around national and local offers of support can be found on their website.
SEND Local Offer
A local offer is for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25 years. It provides information and support services available to families in their local area. Further information about the SEND local offer can be found here.
Medway SEND Local Offer
Information around the Medway SEND local offer can be found here — Medway SEND Local Offer. Additionally, more information about support avaiable in Medway can be found here — Medway child health
Mentally Healthy Schools
Mentally Healthy Schools brings together quality-assured information, advice and resources to help primary schools understand and promote children’s mental health and wellbeing. Its aim is to increase staff awareness, knowledge and confidence to help schools support their pupils. Find it here.
Anna Freud Centre
Through their work, they support education staff to adopt a whole school and college approach to mental health and wellbeing. They produce evidence-based training, resources and programmes, helping schools and colleges make the mental health of their pupils and staff a priority. Find it here.
The Fantastic Fred Experience (For Kent Schools Only)
The Fantastic FRED provider has created some short videos about each of the themes of FRED (Food, Rest, Exercise and Devices). Alongside this, there is a full-length video on their website that shows the whole theatre show. Specifically designed to inform, equip and build resilience, it delivers simple, memorable and practical ways that young children can look after their mental health and explains the link between our physical and mental health. Find it here.
Mental Health Lead Resource Hub
We are pleased to announce that the Department of Education has shared with us a new resource hub to support Mental Health Leads in schools and colleges. This has been launched on the Mentally Healthy Schools online resource hub.
Commissioned by the Department for Education, Anna Freud have collaborated with a range of education and mental health experts to produce this new hub for mental health leads and other education staff.
The hub will support schools and colleges to embed and sustain a whole-school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. It offers practical resources and tools from trusted organisations, including senior mental health lead training providers, all under one roof, further supporting mental health leads to continue to develop their role and better support the children and young people in their setting.
The hub has been designed in consultation with a wide range of sector and professional bodies to ensure it is suitable for different setting types and age ranges, distinguishing between the bespoke needs of a varied workforce.
Video resources
We are excited to share with you are two videos created for primary schools staff, titled “Introduction to Worries”. These informative, bitesize videos look to increase your understanding of how worries and fears can present in primary school aged children, and how they can be supported within the school environment to manage these.
Emotional Wellbeing Network Sessions
Please find links below to the two recordings from the Kent Emotional Wellbeing Network sessions:
1. Kent Emotional Wellbeing Network for schools 1
Functional neurological symptoms (FNS) – an emerging trend in a post-pandemic world – what is FNS and how to support in school. This was presented by Dr Rachel Hussey and Dr Virginia Lumsden.
This session will include:
- The current context of children and young people’s mental health in a post-pandemic world.
- An overview of “functional neurological symptoms” such as tics and seizures.
- Up-to-date research, resources and learning from good practice in a Kent school about how schools can support children and young people with FNS.
Further guidance for schools around Functional Neurological Symptoms can be found here:
2. Kent Emotional Wellbeing Network for schools 2
This video outlines the role of the All Age Eating Disorders Service (AAEDs) in Kent and Medway, and was presented by Dr Annie Cardinal, Dr Susie Greenwood and Alice Childs.
This session will include:
- What are eating disorders and which Eating Disorders the All Age Eating Disorders Service accepts for assessment and treatment.
- The differences between eating disorders and disordered eating; Eating disorders and co-morbidities; NICE concordant treatment options for CYP in AAEDs.
- The role of schools in Eating Disorder treatment with AAEDS.
3. Kent Emotional Wellbeing for Schools 3
This video is presented by Dr Virginia Lumsden and focuses on anxiety. This session will include:
- Understanding anxiety
- The current context
- What is anxiety?
- How to support children and young people who are feeling anxious
4. Kent Emotional Wellbeing Schools Network 4
This video presented at the Kent Emotional Wellbeing Schools Network Event focuses on the importance of sleep for young people. This session will include:
- To understand what sleep is and the science behind sleep.
- To raise the profile and importance of sleep for children's development.