Children's Mental Health

Children's Mental Health

At Hunslet Carr, we have lots of things in place to help support our children, both at school and at home.

Nurture sessions, daily 'Check-ins', friendship groups and a range of after school clubs are just some of the things we do on a daily basis to help our children with their emotional wellbeing.

If we feel one of our children needs a little extra help, we have a therapist within our Inclusion team, who is in school on a Wednesday and Thursday.

Gareth Hobson is an Art Psychotherapist who works for an organisation called Impact North. Gareth runs weekly groups, meets children individually and also provides support for families with children struggling with their mental health.

Hunslet Carr is also part of the JESS Cluster where we can make referrals to a number of different professionals and agencies, such as counselling, parent support, youth work and MindMate.

If you feel that your child (or even yourself) needs some support with their feelings or emotional well-being, please ask to speak (or email) with Donna Bedlow (donna.bedlow@hunsletcarr.co.uk) who is our school SENDCo, Lauren O'Sullivan (lauren.dean@hunsletcarr.co.uk) who is our Parent Support Officer or Andy Hinchcliffe (andy.hinchcliffe@hunsletcarr.co.uk) who is our school Safeguarding Lead.

Child in Year 6 and beyond can access support themselves through The Market Place who offer telephone support sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 3pm and 6pm - 0113 246 1659

Children in Year 6 can also access Kooth. Kooth is commissioned by the NHS to provide anonymous and personalised mental health support for Children and Young People.

Crisis support can be accessed at all hours via Night OWLS or the Leeds CAMHS Crisis Call, details below.

Night OWLS is a confidential support line for children and young people in crisis. Helping them, their parents and carers living in West Yorkshire. They are available 8pm - 8am. Call their free phone number 0300 200 3900, text them on 07984 392 700, or chat at www.wynightowls.org.uk

Leeds CAMHS Crisis Call is a freephone service to support children, young people, parents, and carers whatever the circumstances by listening, supporting, advising, and signposting. The team will ensure that all callers receive an efficient and timely response for anyone up to aged 18 years in critical moments, so that you get fast access to help when needed. They are open 8am - 8pm, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in Leeds, and their number is 0800 953 050.

Details of other organisations that provide urgent support for children in a crisis can be found by clicking here

Below is some useful information on how to support your child's mental health at home.
Listen......
Regularly ask how your children how they are doing. This will help them get used to talking about their feelings and to know you'll be ready to listen if they need or want to talk. For some useful information about starting a conversation with your child about mental health, please click here

Support them through difficulties.....
Pay attention to their emotions and behaviour, and try to help them work through difficulties. It's not always easy when faced with challenging behaviour, but try to help them understand what they're feeling and why. Please click here for some really useful information on managing difficult behaviour and emotions.

Encourage their interests......
Being active or creative, learning new things and being a part of a team help connect us with others and are important ways we can all help our mental health. Support and encourage them to explore their interests, whatever they are.
Although organised activities help us connect, unstructured time, where children can control what, why and how they play, is vital for good mental health. Please click here for a useful information resource on the benefits of child-directed play.

Take what they say seriously...
Listening to and valuing what children say, without judging their feelings help them feel valued. Consider how to help them process and work through their emotions in a more constructive way.
Please click here for some useful resources for supporting children who are worried.

Useful Links