Mental Health and Wellbeing and Education Wellbeing Service
At Dorchester Primary, we believe that good mental health and wellbeing is essential for children to develop and grow.
We know from research that positive wellbeing and mental health is linked to quality of life, relationships and capacity to learn.
At different times, lots of children can struggle with their mental health which can be for lots of different reasons (and not just because of technology or social media). We believe that early access to advice and support is key to promoting wellbeing at an early stage.
Wellbeing is not only important to children but to all of us. This is why we are part of a community of schools in Sutton dedicated to a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing. We aim to work together to promote children’s, parent/carer’s and staff wellbeing.
We recommend speaking to a member school staff should you have any questions or concerns about your child’s wellbeing or mental health.
Getting Advice:
Sutton Education Wellbeing Service runs live webinars for parents on a range of different mental health and wellbeing related topics, find out more and sign up here:
Early Years Parents - NHS Wellbeing Workshops | Eventbrite
Primary Parents - NHS Wellbeing Workshops | Eventbrite
They also have a range of recorded videos here:
Education Wellbeing Service - SWLSTG - YouTube
Young Minds is a great source of advice and support for parents on a range of mental health related topics and they have a parent hotline:-
Getting Support:
Sutton Education Wellbeing Service works with our school offering early and preventative evidence-based mental health advice and support. They are an NHS team that includes qualified Wellbeing Practitioners who offer:
1:1 Guided Self-Help with Parents to Help their Child’s Common Fears or Worries (for parents/carers of children aged 4-11) – this usually involves 6-8 weekly sessions with parents to provide and think together about tools to help with children’s anxieties or worries. This can include things like: phobias, building confidence, anxiety and difficulties around bedtimes or going to school, health worries and other fears. The sessions use ideas and tools from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
1:1 Guided Self-Help with Parents to Help their Child’s Common Tricky or Challenging Behaviours (for parents/carers of children aged 3-11) - this usually involves 6-8 usually weekly sessions with parents to provide and think together about different tools to support emotional dysregulation, tricky or challenging behaviour. The team talks through a few ideas per week to try out and make sure it is specific to your child and your situation.
*Sometimes the service includes children in sessions but mostly sessions run with parents to equip parents with tools to help their children with difficulties both now and in the future, research shows for primary age sessions with parents are generally more effective.
You can self-apply for the service using their digital one page application form here:
https://forms.office.com/e/iKmg68TeHv
The team will then aim to contact you within a few weeks to arrange an initial meeting either in person or online. This will be to tell you more about the service, hear about your child – their strengths/interests and also current challenges and make sure the service might be right for you (if not they will give ideas on other support available).