Mental Health and Wellbeing
Pupil’s Page
For young people in the 21st Century, life is tough. You’re dealing with physical changes in your body, heavy schoolwork and family life. Not to mention the added pressure of social media, peer groups and big-world issues. At St John Henry Newman Catholic School, we want you to know that we are here every step of the way to support you in staying mentally healthy and developing the resilience you need to deal with life’s challenges.
Below you’ll find the links to documents, apps and videos that will help guide you in keeping your mental health in tip-top condition.
Booklets and Leaflets
Mobile Apps
Headspace is a personal guide to health and happiness. Designed to help you focus, breathe, stay calm, perform at your best, and get a better night’s rest through the life-changing skills of relaxation, meditation and mindfulness. https://www.headspace.com/
Happi-me a free non-profit app that helps to raise self-esteem, self-confidence and happiness levels in children young people and adults by teaching them about the power of thinking positively and how to choose a more helpful way of thinking. https://www.happi-me.info/
Smiling Mind is a web and app-based program developed by psychologists and educators to help bring balance to people’s lives. https://www.smilingmind.com.au/
Well Mind is a free NHS mental health and wellbeing app designed to help you with stress, anxiety and depression. The app includes advice, tips and tools to improve your mental health and boost your wellbeing. https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/wellmind-anxiety-depression/
MindShift uses strategies based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help you learnto relax and be mindful, develop more effective ways of thinking, and use active steps to take charge of your anxiety. https://www.anxietycanada.com/resources/mindshift-cbt/
Webinars
Sam Tyrer (Prevention and Engagement Lead, Lancashire Care) hosted a series of live webinars for young people and their families during the Covid-19 pandemic. They cover a variety of topics and are around an hour long. The content of the webinars is of excellent quality and available to view at any time. They can be accessed from the links below:
Communicating about Mental Health
Eating Disorders and Body Image
Resilience, Peer Pressure and Bullying
Your Mental Health Questions Answered?
Anxiety, lack of motivation to do any work and the fear of losing someone
Parent’s Page
Parents and carers have their work cut out for them in this day and age. On top of the day-to-day challenges of raising a teenager, it seems the modern world with its advancements in technology is presenting more problems and issues than it is fixing. When you add in the worrying increase in instances of depression and anxiety in young people post-pandemic, it seems there is an increasingly complex and problematic road ahead for our young people to face. That’s why at St John Henry Newman Catholic School, we want to support parents and carers to meet this challenge head on.
We recognise parents and carers as the primary educators of the children in their care, and as such have put together a package of self-help links and videos below.
Webinars
Sam Tyrer (Prevention and Engagement Lead, Lancashire Care) hosted a series of live webinars for young people and their families during the Covid-19 pandemic. They cover a variety of topics and are around an hour long. The content of the webinars is of excellent quality and available to view at any time. They can be accessed from the links below:
Communicating about Mental Health
Eating Disorders and Body Image
Resilience, Peer Pressure and Bullying
Your Mental Health Questions Answered?
Anxiety, lack of motivation to do any work and the fear of losing someone
In-school Support
For pupils who need extra support with their wellbeing, our Pastoral Care and Support team deliver a range of one-to-one and small group mentoring sessions. Whilst we usually allocate places based on our own observations, we welcome self and parental referrals as we understand that pupils can at times ‘mask’ their feelings and anxieties.
Sometimes, our pupils need more than mentoring to deal or cope with significant life events and traumas. We do have our own school counsellor who works with pupils on a one-to-one basis. Members of the Pastoral Care and Support team can refer to this service.
Specialist Mental Health Support Team
We are in the fortunate position of having access to a specialist Mental Health Practitioner who works on behalf of Bernardos. Our Education Mental Health Practitioner is: Lianne Brown.
If you would like to speak to school about the mental health and wellbeing of a young person in your care and find out what we can do to support, please contact a pastoral support worker for the young person’s year group in the first instance.
External Support
The Universal Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team (CRHT) are available 24/7 to support your child if they are experiencing a mental health crisis. They can also provide advice and support to your family. The service can be contacted on 0300 123 9015 or freephone 0800 652 2865. There is a text number for people who are Deaf and/or have communication difficulties: 07795 656 226. You should call 999 or visit your nearest A&E in case of an emergency.
Teachers’ Page
As educators we see hundreds of young people per week, if not per day. We experience their highs and lows, and share in their successes and failures. We are in a position of trust and privilege to enlighten young minds and help to shape their future. Therefore it’s vital that we not only prioritise the mental health of the young people in our care, but that we safeguard our own mental health as well.
