Mental Health and Well-being
Everyone has ‘mental health’ and this can be thought of in terms of:
- How we feel about ourselves and the people around us;
- Our ability to make and keep friends and relationships;
- Our ability to learn from others and to develop psychologically and emotionally.
Being mentally healthy is also about having the strength to overcome the difficulties and challenges we can all face at times in our lives – having the confidence and self-esteem to be able to take decisions and to believe in ourselves.
At Manor Field, we believe it is important to raise the profile of how to look after our mental health and wellbeing. There are many ways we support children with their mental health and wellbeing in school, and we have recently established a Community and Wellbeing group, where ambassadors across year 3 to year 6 have been chosen to be advocates for mental health in young people. We are happy to talk to you about any concerns to do with your child's mental health or well being.
The following leaflets from the NHS also provide some signposted help:
What's going on in your world?
Health Visitor Text Messaging Service (for those of us with children aged 0-5
What is the Mental Health Support Team?
In Basingstoke we are supported by the Mental Health Support Team who work alongside schools and the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services to support children and young people with their mental health and wellbeing.
What they can help with:
- Sleep difficulties
- Anxiety
- Worry
- Challenging behaviour
- Phobias
- Panic
- Low Mood
- OCD
- Single Event Trauma
They can offer a 'Back to Basics' course, click here to view details. Please speak to our mental health lead, Julie Mancey, if you want any further information.
Parents Support for Children with Mental Health Difficulties
Currently, there are significant concerns around the increase of children with mental health difficulties. If you have any concerns, you may find the attached links useful. You can also, of course, arrange a meeting with the school to share any concerns.
https://hampshireyouthaccess.org.uk/
Thrive at home
Click here to see how you can support your child with some Thrive activities at home.
'Back to Basics' (Hampshire Campaign)
Please take a moment to look through the resources for the ‘Back to Basics’ wellbeing campaign, which has just been launched across
Hampshire: https://www.hants.gov.uk/socialcareandhealth/childrenandfamilies/back-to-basics. It contains some excellent advice on how you can support your child’s mental health and wellbeing.
Books that may help with Mental Health:
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Helping Your Child With Fears and Worries, by Cathy Creswell and Lucy Willetts
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Helping Your Anxious Child, by Ronal Rapee
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Stuff That Sucks, by Ben Sedley
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What To Do When You Worry Too Much, by Dawn Huebnen
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The Anxiety Workbook For Teens, by Lisa Schab
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Overcoming Your Child’s Fears and Worries, by Cathy Creswell and Lucy Willetts
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Breaking Free From OCD, by Jo Derisley
CAMHS
CAMHS, which stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, is a great support service for parents. Their website has a lot of advice, and we recommend taking a look for support on particular topics such as self-harming,
depression and anxiety.
If you feel you need to make a referral to access CAMHS support, speak to school or with your GP.
How to support a young person who may have ADHD, ASD or anxiety?
Click on the link to find very useful videos from CAMHS:
