Mental Health Support Teams have been put into over 70 schools in Gloucestershire via a programme called Trailblazers. The programme aims to make mental health support more available to young people when they need it. Many young people face challenges such as friendship concerns, anxiety, exam stress, and challenging behaviour and Trailblazers are able to provide strategies to help children cope with life's ups and downs, and techniques to look after themselves and become more resilient.  Barnwood C of E Primary School is very pleased to be one of the schools benefitting from Trailblazers support and we are able to refer our pupils to this service. Further information for parents and contact details can be found in the information letter linked below.

What Will They Do?

The Mental Health Support Teams' (MHSTs') main role is to provide early care for children, who may be experiencing mild to moderate, or early symptoms of, mental health concerns. These are difficulties that tend to fall outside the scope of traditional NHS services. Providing this additional resource to support early intervention, appropriate signposting and delivery of focused, evidence-based interventions will improve collaboration between schools and mental health services and enable earlier and more effective mental health support for children, their families and carers.  The Trailblazer programme will link a number of approaches, including working across the system to deliver a comprehensive training programme to increase knowledge and understanding of mental health, trauma, implementation of restorative practice and building resilience. 

What are the Core Functions of a Mental Health Support Team (MHST)? 

• Work with teachers and school staff to identify children with emerging mental health needs, as part of a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing;
• Build relationships across services to ensure joint delivery of care;
• Pilot a cultural and arts led approach as an alternative and contemporary approach;
• Provide appropriate assessment of need, signposting and referral functions to a range of relevant services;
• Provide evidence-based interventions for children who present with mild to moderate mental health problems in a school;
• Provide consultation and advice to other staff in school around understanding children’s mental health;
• Form part of an integrated referral system with specialist NHS children’s mental health services to support children who may present with more complex needs, or who require a more dedicated or intensive intervention.

What is a Mild to Moderate Mental Health Problem?  

A moderate mental health problem is when a person has more symptoms that can make their daily life much more difficult than usual. Examples of this can be, but not limited to: 

• Low mood
• Exam stress
• Mild anxiety
• School refusal
• Low self-esteem
• Friendship issues
• Daily worries & upset
• Challenging behaviours at home