The Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams (WEST) in schools service is designed to help children and young people ages 5-18 years access mental health and wellbeing support early on in educational settings.
It's all about ensuring children and young people can get access to the right help as early as possible.
An early intervention service integrated in education settings to promote children and young people’s emotional wellbeing, keeping the child’s voice at the heart.
There are lots of different clinicians and support staff who work in the team who have different expertise, but all work well together. In the team there are:
The team offer short term support delivered by education mental health practitioners (EMHPs) and senior practitioners, using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) methods to help with low mood, wellbeing, anxiety and behavioural difficulties.
CBT is a type of talking therapy that helps people learn handy and effective ways to manage their issues.
These interventions will be delivered either face to face or virtually through 1:1 sessions. Group sessions are also available for children, young people, and their families, or for school staff or parents where a specific topic might be suitable for them only.
EMHPs in schools may hold larger assemblies where they may talk about things like resilience and wellbeing so it can benefit all pupils/students.
Teams will work in partnership in schools, as an additional resource to their existing mental health support, using a whole-system approach to promote resilience and wellbeing, enable earlier intervention, provide appropriate signposting and deliver evidence-based care and interventions. This will help the school to reflect on its current wellbeing mechanisms, highlighting areas which may require action to improve help for all staff, pupils and families.
Where more specialist help is required we can refer the young person to another service who can provide the right kind of support they need, and we will continue to work closely with the service throughout their treatment.
The teams works across a selected number of primary, middle and secondary schools, sixth forms and colleges in Herefordshire and Worcestershire listed below:
Referrals into our service are made through the mental health lead within the specific education setting.
The child or young person can also self-refer via the school staff, who will then discuss it with the Mental Health Lead.
Parents/carers can also refer to the service via the designated Mental Health Lead within the school.
Please note that we are an early intervention service and do not offer urgent services. If you are in a crisis or experience severe thoughts of harming self, you can find information about who to contact in emergency and available support.
If you are a student in year 12 or year 13 at any of following schools/ colleges across Herefordshire and Worcestershire and would like support from us, you can confidentially refer yourself using the below link:
Please note that we are an early intervention service and do not offer urgent services. If you are in a crisis or experience severe thoughts of harming self, you can find information about who to contact in emergency and available support.
John Kyrle Sixth Form
John Masefield Sixth Form
Hereford Sixth Form College
Herefordshire and Ludlow College
Hereford College of Art
North Bromsgrove High School & Sixth Form
South Bromsgrove High School & Sixth Form
St Augustine’s Catholic High School & Sixth Form
Waseley High School & Sixth Form
Woodrush High School & Sixth Form
Arrow Vale RSA Academy & Sixth Form
Trinity High School & Sixth Form
Tudor Grange Academy & Sixth Form
Heart of Worcestershire College – Redditch
Heart of Worcestershire College – Bromsgrove
The De Montfort School
The Chase Sixth Form
Pershore High School
Hanley Castle High School & Sixth Form Centre
Prince Henry’s High School
The Chantry School
Heart of Worcestershire College – Malvern
Heart of Worcestershire College – Worcester
Worcester Sixth Form College
Baxter College
Bewdley High School & Sixth Form
King Charles School & Sixth Form Centre
Wolverley CE Secondary School & Sixth Form
Stourport High School & VI form college
Haybridge High School & Sixth Form
Holy Trinity School and Sixth Form
Kidderminster College
Please note that we are an early intervention service and do not offer urgent services. If you are in a crisis or experience severe thoughts of harming self, you can find information about who to contact in emergency and available support.
If you are a child or young people please visit the our information section to find out more about feelings and emotions.
We are always looking for feedback on our services and we would love to hear from you. You can complete the quick CAMHS feedback survey here.