Mental Health and Wellbeing is an important part of our everyday lives and, here at Stickland's Primary, we strive to create an environment where our pupils feel happy, safe and nurtured.

 

Please get in touch with our Senior Mental Health Leader, Miss Ruth Adler, if you have any questions, queries or would like some support or advice. You can contact her by calling to make an appointment via the school office (01935 83287) or by emailing r.adler@sticklands.dorset.sch.uk

Below are some website and resources that may be useful:

 

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy

Please see our mental health and wellbeing policy at the bottom of this page. 

Mental Health and Wellbeing for All

https://www.annafreud.org/on-my-mind/youth-wellbeing/find-a-service-near-you/

This website allows you to search for nearby services that can help support a range of people with their mental health and wellbeing.

 

Mental Health and Wellbeing for Children

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/children-and-young-adults/advice-for-parents/talk-to-children-about-feelings/

This page from the NHS gives ideas and advice on how to spot and respond to initial signs for mental health concerns

https://what0-18.nhs.uk/mental-health/your-childs-mental-health

A guide to the different forms that mental health difficulties can take

https://familiesunderpressure.maudsleycharity.org/

Parenting advice and tips on how to handle difficult behaviour or negative emotions

https://www.barnardos.org.uk/what-we-do/helping-families/mental-health/supporting-your-child

The Barnados group have produced this page with lots of helpful information in supporting your child with their mental health and wellbeing

https://www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/wellbeing-activities.html

A range of free, downloadable wellbeing activities for children that cover a range of mental health subjects

https://lithub.com/childrens-books-that-double-as-self-help-a-reading-list/

A list of books that can support children in various ways with their mental health

https://happymaps.co.uk/age-group/primaryschool/

At the bottom of this page is a selection of areas and issues children may experience with their mental health, with information and further links within each section

https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/camhs/wellbeing/

A page with suggestions for how to support children in developing their wellbeing

 

Mental Health and Wellbeing for Parents, Staff and Other Adults

https://www.annafreud.org/on-my-mind/self-care/

A page of suggestions for methods of self-care

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/social-care-and-your-rights/how-to-access-mental-health-services/

A guide on how to access mental health services for yourself or other adults

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/get-help

A compilation of different services and support groups you can access to get help with your mental health

Books to Help Children with Anxiety

Books are a fantastic tool to help children develop the skills needed to manage their anxiety.  The attached documents below (What's worrying you leaflet and Anxiety book list) provide a list of books suitable for primary school aged children.

- The CARD System

The CARD System (Comfort, Ask, Relax, Distract) provides groups of strategies that parents can play to help their children cope with stressful situations.  The document attached at the bottom of this page gives further ideas for how to use this. 

Restorative Conversations

We use restorative practices in school to help resolve disputes with pupils.  Every pupil involved is given a voice.  Restorative practices can also be used at home to help resolve disputes between siblings and family members.  This is how it works;

We use key questions to help us in the process;

1) What happened?

This is an opportunity to model the empathy and respect we want the individuals  to develop. At this stage, the objective is for the individuals to feel understood and heard.

• Listen (use facial gestures and body language, and small words eg. ‘yes’, ‘okay’, ‘I see’, ‘um’… to demonstrate active listening)
• Ask questions if necessary
• Check if you understand properly (do you mean…?)
• If they use this as an opportunity to justify themselves, let them. The objective at this stage is for the individuals to feel heard and understood, not corrected.
• If what the individual is saying isn’t an accurate reflection of the truth ask inquisitive questions and check understanding: ‘are you saying that this happened?’ 

2) How were you feeling and what were you needing?

Simply identifying and understanding the underlying feelings and needs that cause behaviour can often be enough to resolve it.

• Suggest feelings and needs if necessary

• Respond with empathetic body language and facial expressions. 

3) What were you thinking?

The objective at this stage is to help the individuals to express their perspective at the time of the incident. This is a great opportunity to for the listener to model empathy which de-escalates any existing conflict and lays the groundwork for encouraging the individuals to empathise with others in the next question.

• Listen
• Ask questions
• Check understanding

4) Who else has been affected? What do you think might be feeling?

The objective at this stage is to help the individuals develop empathy and emotional intelligence towards others. How you modelled empathy when listening to the individual in the previous stages will directly impact how well the person will be able to empathise with others now.

• Listen
• Ask questions
• Make suggestions if necessary

5) What have you learnt, and what will you do differently next time?

This is an opportunity to work with the individuals to find strategies moving forward for them to meet their needs in a way that will also be respectful of other people needs. If there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution, for example, they are bored in maths and they have rejected all ideas about how they could make it more fun for themselves, revert to empathy and sympathise with the challenge. The goal with Restorative Practice is to get everyone one step closer to meeting their needs whilst improving communication, understanding and empathy for one another

• Listen
• Ask questions
• Check understanding
• Summarise

6) How can the damage be repaired?

 Giving the responsibility to the individual to correct their behaviour is arguably  more effective than a punishment.

Breathing Exercises for Children. 

Learning to take deep breaths to calm ourselves is an important and useful skill.  Here are some ideas to use with children.

• See link below for a list of breathing exercises to do with your children.