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How We Can Help You (School Staff)

The Whole School Approach encompasses students and parents, and also includes school staff. We are here to work with Senior Mental Health Leads in schools to identify students that need 1:1 interventions, help identify where students should go for more complex issues, and provide workshops tailored to needs of the school. We understand that school staff need space to talk about issues they are facing and it is vital that mentally healthy schools includes staff support. Between THEWS and our delivery partners Step Forward, we provide Self-Reflection Spaces and Support sessions to help you.

You’ll be working with an identified practitioner from our team who will meet regularly with your school wellbeing leads to provide support on complex cases. We’ll provide guidance for which young people would benefit most from our 1:1 work, but for any case where there is complexity, we can help signpost to the correct place to get the support the young person requires.

The reflective space uses the Gibbs and the Kolb frameworks, and staff will be supported by two experienced THEWS clinicians. We can offer separate groups for senior leaders, school staff, and school admin if required, as we understand that people may be most comfortable talking around their peers. The reflective space provides you with the ability to work through thoughts and problems with clinicians and peers, but also provides tools to be able to utilise reflection regularly.

Taking good care of staff both emotionally and practically helps them to perform to the best of their ability and ensures that they are better able to support pupils. With this in mind, Step Forward continues to offer a Staff Support /Wellbeing Programme to all school staff.

Staff can ask their link person at their school to contact Step Forward on their behalf or they can make a self-referral to attend an hour-long support session, via Zoom. They can use the space to explore anything which may be impacting on their general wellbeing and/or their emotional health. Staff can request up to six sessions and although not offered as ‘counselling’ sessions, these wellbeing sessions are delivered by one of our qualified Counsellors.

The feedback from staff who have engaged in the programme to date has been very positive. Staff members have mentioned that they have appreciated having the opportunity to speak, confidentially, with someone who is from ‘outside the school.’ This could particularly feel more important when their presenting issues may have had more of a work-related focus.

For more information about the programme, please speak to the THEWS link person at your school or contact Andrew at Step Forward (Andrew@step-forward.org)

Whole School Approach

Schools and colleges are in a unique position to help prevent mental health problems by promoting wellbeing, positive mental health and resilience as part of an integrated approach that is tailored to the needs of their pupils and students. It links with the government’s Transforming Children and young People’s Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper

Benefits:
  • Students and staff will feel that they belong.
  • There are clear behaviour management policy providing transparent systems of boundaries and rewards.
  • Staff feel supported and able to do their jobs well
  • Students learn well.
  • There are healthy, functional relationships where restorative practices are embedded.
  • There is a symbiotic relationship between school and families.
  • Students are given the tools they need to build resilience and understanding themselves better to help into their future.

 

Whole School Approach
Teacher reading to class sitting on matt

Referral

If you work in one of our affiliated schools and have identified a young person who would benefit from our 1:1 interventions, please discuss this with the identified Wellbeing Lead at your school so they can help you make a referral. Once submitted, someone from our team will be in touch with whoever made the referral within 48 hours.

If you are staff and would like to use our counselling service, you can contact our Delivery Partner, Step Forward, directly.