Emotional Well-being
Over the past few years our resilient, amazing children have had to cope with such a lot. As parents and carers we may see this at home through difficult and challenging behaviour. Below are some useful links to charities and organisations offering support.
Don't forget our Coffee Mornings!
We recently welcomed over 50 people attend a workshop with Andy Reddy. Andy an has an in-depth understanding of mental health and special education needs from his professional life. In his personal life, Andy has an autistic son who has been through special education, and he himself has dyslexia. Subsequently, Andy has lived experience of his own struggles with dyslexia and has experienced the real struggle of ‘trying to get it right’ supporting his own autistic child... In his spare time Andy is a trustee of Autism Hampshire and an Includability and Autism ambassador. He offered advice to parents on how to support a neurodiverse child. His workshop was insightful and offered a valuable perspective of the positives of the neurodiverse mind.
As a trustee for Autism Hampshire and an Includability and Autism Ambassador, Andy gave up his time for free. However, he also runs courses which everyone is welcome to attend. For more information, contact:
https://www.reddycoaching.co.uk/help-how-do-i-support-my-neurodiverse-children
Thank you to Andy for offering his time and knowledge to us at St. Mary's.
CAHMS is a brilliant starting point in looking for advice as parent to support your child's emotional needs. The parents sections contains a number of helpful guides, which might give you ideas for ways to tackle worries at home.
https://hampshirecamhs.nhs.uk/help/parents-carers/
Telephone support for families:
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Educational Psychology (HIEP) remains available to contact for all.
Supporting Parents Helpfinder (Young Minds)
Times are tough for many people right now. Parents find themselves pulled in many different direction and children may be struggling being in the house for so much longer than usual.
A mixture of concern about covid, work from home and children at home, along with a possible financial impact make for a stressful household.
Young Minds have created a useful 'Supporting Parents Helpfinder'. By answering six questions, parents can find out how to support their child's mental health during the pandemic (and beyond).
http://https://youngminds.org.uk/supporting-parents-helpfinder/
Young Minds is a great resource for parents looking for advice and support during this difficult preiod. It is worth looking at the other information availiable.
Winston's Wish Charity, a bereavement charity, have put together some useful information for children and parents, should it be needed.
https://www.winstonswish.org/coronavirus-supporting-bereaved-children-and-young-people/
The NSPCC has created a number of resources to support parents and carers.. Topics include information from talking to a child worried about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to how to cope with tantrums and other difficult behaviour
The ChildLine website has many fantastic resources and games in the Tool Kit section which you can have a look at. Visit https://www.childline.org.uk/
For older children have a look at the Children’s Society https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/
Introducing Ollee – a virtual friend (ParentZone/BBC Children In Need)
Ollee is a digital friend for children aged 8-11, created by Parent Zone and funded by BBC Children in Need’s A Million & Me initiative, which aims to make a difference to children’s emotional wellbeing.
It’s designed to help children reflect on how they feel and to process their experiences with the support and help of their parents and carers – and it does this by offering them advice about a range of subjects: school, family, friends, their body, the internet and the world.
For each of these subjects, children can choose an emotion that matches how they feel about it: happy, angry, sad, confused, frustrated, stressed or worried.
Next, they can choose from a list of topics – for instance, a child who was worried about school might be able to select ‘I haven’t done my homework’ as the cause of their worry. Finally, they’ll see a page of advice about the topic, presented in child-friendly bite-sized chunks they can read then or save for later.
You can more information and download the Ollee app here: https://parentzone.org.uk/Ollee
Kath, from Relax Kids, has offered some very valuable support to a number of our pupils and their families over the last few years. She has continued working virtually and, where possible, face to face with children.
Take a look at her website: www.relaxwithkath.com
Kath Routledge
Relax Kids Coach
Tel: 07989 476533
Facebook: Relax Kids Basingstoke
Twitter @rkbasingstoke
NHS Well-being pack
This pack has recently been shared via a parent update. The pack is developed by the NHS, which, as well as containing some good ideas, also signposts to other sources of help and support should you need it.