Services For Schools
There is a crisis in UK schools. One in six school-aged children has a diagnosable mental health problem and its getting worse. The waiting list for statutory services is months, if not years, leaving children, young people and their families to struggle on.
This places schools in a very challenging position. Whilst schools are often the professionals with the most contact with young people, the specialist mental health support needed can often fall outside of the skill set of even the most specialised school staff.
We all know the impact that mental health can have on young people effecting their social integration in school, their academic progress and their future life chances. Unaddressed mental health challenges can snowball, having a direct impact on school attendance leading to school avoidance; poor and challenging behaviour which then leads to sporadic attendance, directly impacting on outcomes.
A problem for the school, but more importantly a young person with mental health problems that can last a lifetime.
The solution is bespoke, flexible, school-based support designed to meet the needs of your students, your wider school priorities and your local context.
Jenny Ward Therapy’s School Wellbeing Service is experienced at providing tailored mental health provision and behavioural interventions to even the most challenging young people.
By providing online sessions we can reach young people in coastal and rural communities and address the postcode lottery of statutory mental health provision.
Contact me for further information about how we can help support your students wherever you are in the UK.
Staff Support
Teaching is a skilled and challenging role. Often your staff are supporting families in the most challenging of circumstances and walking along side them as they find a way to manage. When this burden becomes too great, we see teachers leaving the profession and adding to the already difficult landscape of recruiting and training talented staff.
Supporting your teachers and pastoral team with practical strategies and reflective supervision can significantly aid the retention of talented and experienced staff. Addressing work-related stress supports staff wellbeing, improves job performance, and creates a supportive work environment helping to improve staff morale and reduce staff turnover. This can ultimately lead to improved outcomes for students and a more positive school culture.
As a social worker and CBT therapist I can offer coaching to support your staff to reflect on their experiences and move forward in a positive, problem solving frame of mind.
Training
Our Training programme is regularly updated to reflect the needs of our schools.
All sessions can be offered as a Twilight CPD session.
Our current offer includes;
Understanding Emotionally Based School Avoidance
The course supports teachers to understand and assess the underlying issues contributing to emotionally based school avoidance and practical strategies to help children and young people to return to school and how to support parents through this time. Course includes handouts to share with parents and young people.
Introduction to Anxiety
Two hours delivered as one session or in two blocks.
The course offers an introductory overview of the various forms of anxiety that young people may experience, and an understanding of the fight/flight/freeze response and the impact on learning. The session is interactive and uses cases studies to consider the learning environment and what can be done to help support learners with anxiety to stay in the classroom through techniques to promote emotional regulation and developing resilience.
