Since January 2020, Sheffield has received funding from NHSE and DfE to develop its Mental Health Support Team. Currently, the team has the capacity to reach 50% of children and young people across the city.
This initiative is part of the government’s plans to improve children and young people’s mental health as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.
The national directive for Mental Health Support Teams is for them to:
- Support Senior Mental Health Leads in education settings to develop their whole-school approach to mental health and emotional wellbeing
- Deliver evidence-based interventions for mild to moderate mental health needs (e.g., guided self-help or parent-led Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for anxiety or low mood)
- Provide timely advice to staff and liaise with external specialist services so that children and young people can get the right support and remain in education
Sheffield MHST also offers a trauma-informed approach and continues to develop its offer in response to local need.
Healthy Minds, as part of Sheffield CAMHS, delivers the Sheffield Mental Health Support Team.
It includes Senior Mental Health Clinicians, Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) and Senior EMHPs.
- Senior Mental Health Lead: All MHST schools should have an identified Senior Mental Health Lead (SMHL).
- Senior Leadership: It is key that schools have the capacity of a member of SLT to support and develop the service offer.
- Making Every Interaction Count: To maximise the impact and sustainability of this service, the MHST offer is embedded within participating schools, so the whole school offer complements and supports any direct work with individual children and young people.
- Co-production: Sheffield MHST will build on the work of Healthy Minds and the national directive to meet the needs of local schools.
- Targeted Support: Sheffield Mental Health Support Team accepts referrals from a school’s Senior Mental Health Lead.
Sheffield Mental Health Support Team Offer
Thriving
Whole school approach to emotional wellbeing
Department of Education assured senior mental health lead training
Mental Health Promotion
Getting advice
Review and planning with individual settings to support school improvement
- Review and planning tool
- Healthy Minds surveys
Mental health promotion
Including staff wellbeing
Student Voice
Healthy Minds Champions
Workforce development
Examples include:
- Whole school – making every interaction count
- Common mental health issues such as low mood, anxiety
- Emotional regulation
- The developing brain
- Loss and bereavement
- Attachment theory
- Protective and compensatory childhood experiences (PACEs) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
- Lunchtime supervisors
Getting help
Individual work
- Low intensity CBT
- Parent led CBT
- Low mood
- Anxiety
- Self-esteem
- Simple phobias
- Panic
- Social anxiety
- Solution focused therapy
Universal and targeted groupwork
- Anxiety
- Assertiveness
- Emotional regulation
- Emotional skills
- Friendship
- Self-esteem
- Transition
- Secure Attachment Focused Environment (SAFE)
Psycho-education for pupils
- Transition to secondary
- Preparing for exams
- Worry management
- Sleep hygiene
- Managing anxiety
- Emotional literacy
- Flipping your lid
- One kind word
- Friendship
- Boys’ mental health
Parent workshops
- Helping an anxious child
- Sleep
- Bereavement and loss
- Separation anxiety
- Managing exam stress
- Emotional regulation
Getting risk support
Trauma informed whole school approach
At an individual, group and whole school level
School based Care Plans
- For vulnerable pupils to enable them to access education through mental health assessment, formulation, working together to agree, embed and review a school-based plan
- Reflective practice within and across schools
Getting more help
Consultation and triage
Signpost to specialist services
- Complex interpersonal challenges
- Active and significant self-harm
- Attachment disorder
- Neurodiversity
- PTSD
- Psychosis
- Bipolar disorder
- Chronic depression
- Chronic anxiety
- Eating disorders
- Personality disorders
Mental Health Support Team Further Information
Memorandum of Understanding
The core conditions required for successful partnership working with Sheffield Mental Health Services Team (MHST) and educational settings.
Referral criteria for Low Intensity CBT (Li-CBT)
Evidenced based LI-CBT for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health concerns.
Vulnerable children and young people
Sheffield Mental Health Support Team (MHST) offer for vulnerable children and young people.
Trauma-Informed Reflective Practice
Reflective practice sessions for Sheffield school staff who have completed TIS-UK practitioner training or equivalent.
Service Satisfaction Feedback
This is a brilliant service; I think that it is so needed in schools for the young people, particularly during the pandemic. We are very grateful and thankful for having the opportunity to take part and also very thankful to (Trainee EMHP) for her hard work with (Child).
Parent or Carer
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