Emotional Health Support

Services we can refer you to:

A Space: An external agency who come into school to offer individual therapy sessions. 

MHST: The Mental Health Support Team is an NHS service which comes into school to offer emotional health support. They run group sessions, as well as individual sessions.

CAMHS First Steps: Helps children and young people experiencing many common problems with emotional wellbeing, relationships and behaviour. Their aim is to provide prompt and easily accessible support - the first steps - to tackle problems early before they can become more of a worry. More information can be found here: https://cityandhackneycamhs.org.uk/services/first-steps/ 

CAMHS Specialist: A service for children and young people who have significant ongoing emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties that make it difficult to carry out everyday activities or relate well with other people. More information can be found here: https://cityandhackneycamhs.org.uk/services/specialist-camhs/ 

CAMHS Growing Minds: A service that aims to improve African, Caribbean and mixed heritage children and young people's emotional health and wellbeing in City & Hackney. The project provides counselling, emotional and practical support for African, Caribbean and mixed heritage children, young people and their families. More information can be found here: https://cityandhackneycamhs.org.uk/services/growing-minds/ 

If you feel overwhelmed, and need help calming yourself down, try these techniques:

Mindfulness techniques for students

• Write your feelings down in a notebook

• Squeeze a stress ball

• Draw to create something that expresses how they feel

• Have an emergency box with comforting words such as I am great, I am worthy, I am loved (positive affirmations)

• Rock/hug self

• Engage in breathing exercises

• Grounding techniques

Breathing Exercise

Breathe in slowly. Count in your head and make sure the inward breath lasts at least 5 seconds. Pay attention to the feeling of air filling your lungs.

Hold your breath for 5 to 10 seconds. You don’t want to feel uncomfortable but it should last quite a bit longer than an ordinary breath.

Breathe out very slowly for 5 to 10 seconds (make sure you count). Pretend as if you are breathing through a straw to slow yourself down.

Repeat the process until you feel calm.

Grounding Technique

Use this exercise to quickly ground the student in the present as it is designed to help minimise worries, thoughts or memories and help the child/young people to refocus on the present moment.

What are 5 things you can see? – Look around you and notice 5 things you hadn’t noticed before. Maybe a pattern in the wall, light reflecting from a surface, a crack in a wall etc.

What are the 4 things you can feel? – Maybe you can feel the pressure of your feet on the floor, your shirt/ t-shirt resting on your shoulders, the temperature on your skin. Pick up an object, notice its texture.

What are 3 things you can hear? – Notice all the background sounds you have been filtering out such as air conditioning, birds chirping, young people shouting outside, car noise.

What are 2 things you can smell? -  Maybe you can smell your aftershave, perfume, fresh air, rubbish, coffee or unpleasant smell.

What is the 1 thing you can taste? – Pop a mint in your mouth, sip some water or simply notice how your mouth tastes. Taste the air to see how it feels on your tongue

This document has been created alongside our WAMHS Practitioner.