Health and Wellbeing

Mental Health and Wellbeing

The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of mental health is:

'A state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.

Mental health is fundamental to our collective and individual ability as humans to think, emote, interact with each other, earn a living and enjoy life. On this basis, the promotion, protection and restoration of mental health can be regarded as a vital concern of individuals, communities and societies throughout the world.'

At The Hall School we promote positive mental health in a variety of ways. This includes the knowledge and learning within our curriculum alongside our assembly programme, our extra-curricular activities and curriculum enrichment. It is also achieved via positive relationships between adults and children and between the children. Please do talk to us if you have any concerns about your child's mental health. We aim to support children in a variety of ways if they extra help. Working in partnership with parents and carers is essential. Where necessary, we involve outside agencies and professionals. 

At the Hall School the Senior Mental Health Lead is Mrs R Handford. 

There are links below for further resources.

Mental Health and Getting Support

The Let’s Talk - Wellbeing service offers a range of talking therapies for common mental health problems including depression, anxiety, panic, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, trauma and stress. The support available includes one to one sessions via telephone or video conferencing with a therapist, online support through the dedicated digital platform Silvercloud which can be used at any time on any device, and online videos and interactive webinars covering different topics such as stress control, anxiety management and self-care.

The service now also has one phone number to cover the City, County and Rutland making referrals even easier. Open the document below to access the phone number you can call.

Please use the attachment below which details a text messaging service available to parents. 'Chat Health' and 'Chat Autism' is a confidential and secure text message service run by the NHS. 

The School Nurse Service has greater capacity this year to support primary school children and families on a range of wellbeing and health issues. These could include:

• Toileting
• Diet, nutrition and healthy eating
• Behaviour
• Sleep
• Emotional health and well-being support

We often find parents feel isolated when dealing with challenges with their children at home and may feel like other families are not experiencing the same issues. More often than not, you will find that there are many people finding things a challenge. We would always encourage you to reach out and share with us so that we can try and find a way forward. Where appropriate, we can make a referral to the School Nurse Service. You can also contact the School Nurse Service yourself. They have a digital offer alongside support in the home. Raising children certainly brings the biggest challenges along with the greatest rewards! See the website and the posters below.

Free information and workshops for families of autistic children and young people - Autism Central

Autism Central is an NHS England commissioned project to provide high-quality and accessible autism information, education and coaching for families and carers, co-delivered by autistic people families and carers.  They are able to offer a range of free information and workshops for families of autistic children and young people.

• Information for Parents and Carers about our Autism Hub Midlands : We have a variety of workshops coming up in March. You can access our Midlands Hub by clicking the Autism Central logo and check out our upcoming events.

• Autism Hub Midlands support parents, carers and PA’s of Autistic people of all ages, on the journey of a diagnosis and after. You can access our FREE online workshops by clicking here. You can also access our FREE 30 minute 1:1 calls by clicking here. All our workshops and 1:1 calls are facilitated by a Peer Educator with lived experience of Autism.

• Autism Central have a resources directory which informs on topics including understanding autism, talking about a diagnosis, sensory differences, masking and more. You can also register to access free resources and learning materials on Autism Central’s online learning hub.

• We provide educational settings, parent carer groups and support services FREE Autism workshops for parents and carers of Autistic People

• Alongside our FREE online workshops and FREE 30 minute 1:1 calls with a Peer Educator which parents and carers can access via our website, educational settings can access FREE workshops in collaboration with us. We can deliver online or in person workshops for your parents and carers of Autistic People at your coffee mornings, parents evening, parent support groups or conference events.

Here is a selection of the FREE workshops we can offer:

• Understanding Autism for parents and carers OR a whole family version
• Understanding Your Child’s/Teenagers Behaviour
• Support for Siblings and Young Carers of Autistic Children
• Support for Parents of Children/Teenagers with Anxiety
• Wellbeing for Parents and Carers

Each workshop generally lasts an hour or two and we can deliver in the AM or PM. We can offer more flexible times with online workshops e.g. 6pm/7:30pm start, though it depends on what suits your parents and carers best.

Some settings and groups will book an in-person workshop for 1.5 hours or 2 hours where there is time before to settle in and chat (like a coffee and chat) before or after the workshop commences or so there is more time for Q&A.

If you would be interested in a workshop or already run a parent carer group or coffee morning and would like us to attend, please email us at AutismHubMidlands@contact.org.uk. If you have dates and times in mind, please do let us know we are taking booking for 2024. We are also happy to attend any events where we can be a stall holder to share all about our FREE support e.g. family fun days, transition events or parents evenings etc.

We can also offer 1:1 drop-in chat sessions for your parents and carers and usually we offer these after a workshop or two so your parents and carers feel comfortable with us within your premises or virtually. These are 30 minute chats where we support and signpost your parents and carers.

Please also see the attached advice from the Young Minds charity to support parents with their children.

Support for Children

Some children may feel worried or anxious at different points in their life about what is happening and any changes that they are dealing with. Childline have produced some resources specifically for children who are feeling worried, anxious or sad.