Mental Health Support Team in Schools

Our team carries out all sorts of work to support mental health:

• For school staff: we offer training, consultation, free webinars and provide opportunities to think together about changes that could be made in the school environment for everyone’s well-being. The MHST meet with their school links (typically the Special Educational Needs and Disability Coordinator, SENDCo or Designated Mental Health Lead, DMHL) every half term to have conversations about what is going well and anything that we could help with.
• For parents and carers: we work with families when there are concerns around behaviour, relationships, mood and/or worries. We support adults to better understand what might be happening for their child and different ways to meet their needs. The MHST also run regular webinars around a range of topics linked to parenting, child and adolescent development and other important aspects of family life.
• For children and young people (4 to 18 years of age): we run groups and workshops with young people in school that cover a range of topics, such as understanding our emotions, mindfulness, moving to secondary school, exam stress, difficulties with relationships, anxiety as well as many others. The MHST also work individually with young people for up to 10 weekly sessions.

We see families and young people face-to-face in schools, at our North or South bases as well as online, through Zoom. Once we receive a referral (from school, GP, parents or carers or through a young person aged 16 years and above), we complete a welcome call and then carry out a first meeting to find out more around what is happening and the type of support that may be helpful.

Sometimes after this first meeting, we will decide with you that working with another team might be more helpful; for example, if we hear that more help than what we can provide is required. The MHST is closely linked with Camden Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) as well as other teams.  We can think with you around which team would be best if support from the MHST does not fit with your needs and wishes.

Please send us an email or call us using the contact details below and we would be happy to talk more about who we are and how we can help.

The MHST is made up of mental health professionals from a range of different backgrounds and trainings but mainly call ourselves ‘School Practitioners’.

Our team includes:

• Child Wellbeing Practitioners (CWPs)
• Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs)
• Interpersonal Therapy for Adolescents Practitioner
• Parenting Support Practitioner
• Psychologists (Clinical, Counselling and Educational)
• Social Worker and CBT Therapist
• Trainee CBT Therapist
• Trainee EMHPs
• Trainee Educational Psychologists