Let’s Connect for Children’s Mental Health Week

This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and the theme for this year is Let’s Connect.

Let’s Connect is about making meaningful connections for all, during Children’s Mental Health Week – and beyond.

For Children’s Mental Health Week 2023, the Council is encouraging people to connect with others in healthy, rewarding, and meaningful ways.

The annual event is organised by leading children’s health charity Place2Be, which has announced that young people at an extra 81 schools and colleges across Lancashire and South Cumbria are now receiving mental health support from specialist teams.

The extra support is in place after educational mental health practitioners from five mental health support teams (MHSTs) recently completed their 12 months of training.

Cllr Julie Gunn, the Council’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, said:

Connecting positively with family, friends and other people and learning how to develop good relationships is a hugely important part of our children’s development and is really vital for their mental and emotional health and wellbeing.

This campaign is fantastic in raising awareness of these issues every year and there will be lots of fantastic projects and events going on in our borough’s schools during the week to highlight the help and support that is out there for our children and young people.”

Helen Rimmer, children and young people’s mental health programme manager at NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, the organisation that organises healthcare services in the region, said:

Mental health support teams help children and young people to thrive emotionally. As part of the national roll out, we have been able to introduce more teams to support more children and young people across Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Our MHSTs equip pupils with tools and strategies to deal with life’s everyday challenges, such as moving to new schools, exam stress, worries, angry feelings, low mood and help to develop healthy relationships.”

The teams help children and young people experiencing emotional or wellbeing issues such as low-level anxiety, low mood, or friendship or behavioural difficulties.

They also give advice to school staff and parents, developing a whole-school approach, to help children get the right support and remain in education. Where necessary, the teams will work alongside other services such as child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

Healthy relationships with family, friends and school staff are vital for children’s wellbeing, offering a strong protective factor against poor mental health. The work of the MHSTs supports these relationships to develop and thrive.

Since the first MHSTs launched in 2019, dedicated staff have developed workshops, assemblies, teacher training, and parent/carer sessions to help support children and their families in the community.

For more information about Mental Health Support Teams in Lancashire and South Cumbria visit www.healthyyoungmindslsc.co.uk/MHST