Dear parents and carers
World Mental Health day falls this week on October 10th so I thought it the perfect opportunity to inform you of the services we can offer as a school to support your child and ask our school Mental Health Lead, Miss Harvey to pull together some further information for parents to access from outside agencies.
As a school we have a designated link person to support students who might be having low mood and need some guidance and support. As a school we always update parents of any concerns and work together to offer a package of intervention. This more often than not is having a key worker in school that a student can report to if they are experiencing any issues and concerns about their mental health and wellbeing. The person will listen, offer guidance and support and keep family updated along the way.
For students who would benefit from having more targeted specialist support then the school mental health lead will refer to Compass support workers. They are an arm of Forward-Thinking Birmingham and will come into school to assess a child and put together a more individualised package of support.
If students ever get to a higher level or crisis point, then the school with the family can make a referral directly to Forward Thinking Birmingham to explore the options of a higher-level package of support. At this stage we would be urging and directing families to also seek direct support from their local GP.
Attached to this letter there is a presentation that Miss Harvey has put together to help inform and support parents. Recent research has made links to child mental health concerns and the excessive use of social media. Social media is part and parcel of life, but the guidance offers parents tips and strategies to reduce the negative impact the social media can have. There are also external agencies linked in the document that parents can approach directly for additional support around supporting your child if they do exhibit signs of anxiety and low mood.
I hope you find the presentation useful. If you have any concerns about the mental wellbeing of your child, please contact Miss Harvey or a member of the school safeguarding team.
Kind Regards
Jason Halstead DSL
Assistant Principal
Academy Safeguarding Lead
Social Media & Mental Health
