Safeguarding,
Well-Being &
E-Safety Support
February 2021
SUPPORTING WELLBEING DURING THE CORONAVIRUS
Caring for your son or daughter’s mental health and well-being over these coming months will be really important. With a greater emphasis on online learning and an inevitable increase in screen time, accompanied with daily routines that greatly differ from the norm, including social distancing measures, it is likely that some students will begin to feel isolated. On 30 March the Government issued comprehensive Guidance for parents and carers on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, covering the following
The guidance can be read in full, via the following link; Please remember that staff remain in place and active and should be contacted for support. Students can continue to email their Form Tutor; SEND Keyworker; Head of Year; Year group Tutors, as well as other key members of staff; Safeguarding Lead: Paul Charnock pch@trinity.cumbria.sch.uk Deputy Safeguarding Lead: Tracy Studholme tst@trinity.cumbria.sch.uk Anne Ewing also available for Careers Advice aew@trinity.cumbria.sch.uk There is a great deal of additional resource available to support us during these difficult times. Please find below a list of Emotional Wellbeing (EWB) and Mental Health sources of advice, consultation and support for staff, students and their parents and carers. Most of the general advice for professionals, parents, carers and young people can be found at: Professionals: Parents: The following link offers comprehensive advice for supporting children and families through unexpected times of rapid and unpredictable change in the light of coronavirus Additional, targeted support for parents and students can be found here also; Young Minds: The Young Minds Website has a parents and professionals section as well as advice and moderated blogs for young people and a free telephone. Rise Above: Health and wellbeing website by Public Health England that covers everything including emotional wellbeing, friendships, self-care; also has games, videos etc. Kooth.com online support for young people: Kooth is a web-based confidential support service available to young people aged 11 to 18yrs, providing a safe and secure means of accessing mental health and wellbeing support designed specifically for young people. Counsellors are available from 12noon to 10pm on weekdays and 6pm to 10 pm at weekends, every day of the year on a drop-in basis. To find out more visit www.Kooth.com where young people can register and others can find out more about the service. Laura Berry, Kooth Integration and Participation Worker for Cumbria can be contacted at lberry@xenzone.com or by calling 07535 088117 5 – 19 School Age Public Health Nurse Practitioner Service: E-school Nurse it is now available for professionals AND parents across the age ranges – however it is about general health needs not just mental health. See attached for details. 5-19 PH Website – the team are constantly updating with information and ideas on their website. https://www.cumbria.gov.uk/ph5to19/ The link below takes you to a recently published guide for educational settings and schools on sudden traumatic death and bereavement prefaced by a COVID 19 section: My Time Cumbria (Barnardos) Primary Care Mental Health Service: Initial telephone advice can be obtained from the Primary Mental Health Workers who can be contacted as below: Referrals can be made directly by contacting My Time on the number below: CAMHS Support (North Cumbria): Where youngsters are experiencing serious mental health issues (currently as staffing allows). The East Team (includes Carlisle) can be contacted on 01228 608870. North Cumbria Crisis Assessment and Intervention Service (CAIS): Where young people feel they are in a mental health crisis, referrals can be made by any professional (with appropriate permissions) by ringing 01228 603964. Telephone assessment and support will be given initially. Available 9am-8pm Monday-Friday and 9am-1pm Saturday and Sunday. (This service is now part of the Adult MH Crisis Service). SAFA Self Harm Awareness for All Support Service: SAFA continues to work with self-harm clients and have moved from face to face counselling to virtual counselling. Office staff are working from home. All counsellors have been trained to deliver the service via on-line support. They are also able to support friends/family members that need support. Until June SAFA will be working across the whole of Cumbria, after then they will switch to working only across South Cumbria. We Are With You (formerly Young Addaction) https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk Eden Mind, for better mental Health – http://www.cemind.org/help-and-resources/mental-health-support.aspx PAPYRUS is the national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide https://papyrus-uk.org Anna Freud (National Centre for Children and Families), supporting young people’s mental health during periods of disruption https://www.annafreud.org/what-we-do/anna-freud-learning-network/coronavirus/ Youth Work Support, has a dedicated provision to support young people through COVID 19, providing useful links to professionals and key workers https://youthworksupport.co.uk/young-people/ Think You Know: Online Safety Home Activity Packs https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Support-tools/home-activity-worksheets/ Support and activities for children with learning disabilities and their families. |
Six minutes a day keeps the stress away!
With mental health issues on the rise amongst children and young people (What kids think about Mental Health, CHILDWISE, 2020), research by Mindlab International at the University of Sussex (2009) found that just six minutes of reading a day can reduce stress levels by 68%. Dr Lewis, who conducted the test, said: “Losing yourself in a book is the ultimate relaxation.”
National Literacy Trust (2017) also found that reading to help other children through Readathon boosts happiness and helps to foster positive attitudes towards reading. Furthermore, reading attitudes were found to be the strongest predictors of mental well-being (2018).
TikTok ‘family safety mode’ gives parents some app control
It will let parents link their own TikTok accounts to their child’s – and turn features on and off remotely. That includes a “restricted mode” that tries to filter out inappropriate content, and turning off messaging. TikTok has an age limit of 13, but many pre-teens still use the Chinese-owned app.
A recent survey by UK media regulator Ofcom found that TikTok was used by 13% of all children aged 12-15 in 2019 – up from 8% the year before.
Inside My Head: What is an anxiety disorder?
This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and thanks to campaigners like 16-year-old Molly and her group – We Will – they are breaking the stigma surrounding mental health.
Molly is from Cumbria, where she has found mental health services are not always able to do enough to help young people in her area.
Eden mind came to visit us today to chat with students and staff about some of the ways we can deal with worry and stress. We had a go at some zentangle drawings and came out feeling relaxed and calm for an afternoon of learning.😊 pic.twitter.com/MX2yvPcqiP
— Mindful Trinity (@TrinityMindful) March 4, 2020