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The Mental Health Support Team in Schools (MHST) is a new service that is working with a number of schools across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to help young people with their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
The teams can help children and young people work through struggles with low mood, anxiety and worry. They can also assist you in putting strategies in place to help with these issues and support with practical steps to get better sleep and work on panic management.
Take a look at this short animation for more information about the team:
The team will also work with school leaders and headteachers to promote better mental health for everyone as part of the school’s ‘Whole School Approach‘.
The teams are being introduced as part of a national programme to increase access to mental health support for children and young people, and is another way of supporting and helping you thrive in education.
The teams consist of Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) trained in Low Intensity CBT interventions, Clinicians and Senior Clinicians, as well as Service Managers. Between them, they have a wealth of experience in supporting children and young people with their mental health and navigating the local systems.
The practitioners will use evidence-based approaches to help you.
They can either work with you on a one-to-one basis or in groups.
They use approaches such as:
CBT involves the practitioner working with you to focus on your problem and break it down into smaller parts. The practitioner will help you develop a toolkit of practical strategies and coping mechanisms so you can deal with difficult situations when they arise.
It is a talking therapy, based upon the understanding that your thoughts, feelings and physical sensations and actions are interconnected. It suggests negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a negative cycle and helps you to identify ways to break that cycle.
Low intensity treatment will involve a number of focussed sessions of individual face-to-face or virtual therapy.
Offering low intensity treatment first means we are able to:
Below is a list of schools the teams are currently active in. We’ll be adding to this list on a regular basis:
If you are based in a school in which our Mental Health Support Teams in Schools are active, you can speak to a teacher, member of school staff or mental health support lead to find out more about when we are visiting and how you can connect with our team.
Alternatively, feel free to speak directly to one of our Educational Mental Health Practitioners if you see them around school.
Head to our ‘Find Help‘ page where you can find information and contact details for a wide variety of local support services available to you.
You can find local support services linked to:
