Free mental health support for children and young people
West Kent Mind have been funded by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Community Support Fund and Tonbridge and Malling Household Support Fund to deliver a mental health support programme for Children and Young People and their parents, carers and trusted adults across Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge & Malling.
By working with local secondary schools and other community groups, we hope to deliver a programme of Mental Health Awareness training to a broad group of young people and their parents and carers.
Children and Young People
We know that schools work hard to deliver comprehensive wellbeing support for all their pupils, and we aim to compliment what schools already have in place. We are aiming to support as many children as possible with this initiative, so we are proposing a blended approach to delivering the training. We are looking to work with you to provide provision that will be useful and relevant for you and your students. We understand that the summer term is a busy time in schools, so we will work quickly and flexibly to meet your needs.
Here are some examples of what we can provide:
Assembly
To enable us to reach a wide group of students, we are proposing year group assemblies, where we can talk about the common challenges around mental health for our young people and provide them with some tips and tools for supporting themselves and their friends. The sessions will provide the following outcomes:
- Increased understanding of factors that can affect mental health.
- Awareness of good and negative stress and is affects.
- Tools for coping with challenging times.
- Where to go for help and support.
Class sessions
These sessions could be in addition to an assembly, allowing students to have a more interactive session. The class session will provide the students with the following learning outcomes:
- Recognise the signs that someone is struggling with their mental health.
- Have the confidence to respond if someone they know is experiencing poor mental health.
- Know where to go to get help and support.
- Understand the importance of looking after their own wellbeing.
- Tools for coping with stress and building resilience.
Parents & Carers Support Groups
Support groups for parents, carers or trusted adults dealing with the emotional toll of a child or young person struggling with their mental health. Each of these groups will last six sessions and will be 1.5 hours each session. This programme aims to achieve the following outcomes:
- Reduced feelings of isolation, fostering a sense of being better informed to support their young person.
- Increased confidence in seeking support during times of crisis for themselves and their young person.
- Decreased anxiety around conversations regarding mental health, including challenging topics such as self-harm and suicide.
- Enhanced peer support and communication about emotional well-being.
- Greater confidence in supporting young people engaging in self-harming behaviours.
I hope people in our community really do know there is support out there for them.
I hope people in our community really do know there is support out there for them.
