Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams in Schools

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.

Our mission...

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:

Education mental health practitioners
Senior practitioners
Clinical leads
Operational leads
Service manager
Support staff

Types of support offered

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.

Referral to other support services

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.

What schools does the team work with?

Which Schools we visit

The teams work across a selected number of primary, middle and secondary schools in Herefordshire and Worcestershire listed below:

Wyre Forest

Baxter College
Bewdley High School
Birchen Coppice Primary Academy
Comberton Primary School
Cookley Sebright Primary School
Foley Park Primary Academy & Nursery
Franche Community Primary School
Haybridge High School & Sixth Form
Heronswood Primary School
Holy Trinity School
King Charles I School & Sixth Form Centre
Lickhill Primary School
Offmore Primary School
St Ambrose Catholic Primary School
St Bartholomew's CofE VC Primary School
St Catherine's CE Primary School
St George's CE Primary School
St John's CE Primary School
St Mary's CE Primary School
St Oswald's CE Primary School
Stourport Primary Academy
Sutton Park Primary RSA Academy
Wolverley CE Secondary School
Wolverley Sebright Primary Academy

Redditch/Bromsgrove

Arrow Vale RSA Academy
Arrow Valley First School
Batchley First and Nursery School
Birchensale Middle School
Catshill First School & Nursery
Catshill Middle School
Church Hill Middle School RSA Academy
Crabbs Cross Academy
Holyoakes Field First School
Ipsley CE RSA Academy
Matchborough First School Academy
Moons Moat First School
North Bromsgrove High School
Ridgeway Academy
South Bromsgrove High School
St Augustine's Catholic High School
St Bede's Catholic Middle School Academy
St Peter's Catholic First School Academy
St Stephen's CofE RSA Academy
St Thomas More Catholic First School
Trinity High School & Sixth Form Centre
Tudor Grange Academy, Redditch
Walkwood CE Middle School
Waseley Hills High School
Woodfield Academy
Woodrow First School
Woodrush High School

Herefordshire

Aylestone School
Barrs Court School
Blackmarston School
Brampton Abbotts CofE Primary School
Bridstow CofE Primary School
Broadlands Primary School
Earl Mortimer College & Sixth Form Centre
Fairfield High School
Goodrich CofE Primary School
Herefordshire Pupil Referral Unit
John Kyrle High School and Sixth Form Centre
John Masefield High School
Kingstone & Thruxton Primary School
Kingstone High School
Kington Primary School
Lady Hawkins' School
Lea CofE Primary School
Leominster Primary School
Lord Scudmore
Luston Primary School
Marlbrook Primary School
Queen Elizabeth High School
Riverside Primary School
St Francis Xavier's Primary School
St Martin's Primary School
St Mary's RC High School
St Peter's Primary School
St Thomas Cantilupe CofE Primary School
Steiner Academy Hereford
Stoke Prior Primary School
The Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School
The Brookfield School
The Hereford Academy
Weobley High School
Weobley Primary School HR4 8ST
Whitecross High School and Specialist Sports College
Wigmore High School
Withington Primary School

South Worcestershire

Carnforth School
Chawson Community First School
Cherry Orchard Primary School
Cranham Primary School
Cutnall Green CE Primary School
Dines Green Community Academy
Dyson Perrins CE Academy
Hanley Castle High School & Sixth Form Centre
Hollymount School
Nunnery Wood Primary School
Oasis Academy Warndon
Ombersley Endowed First School
Perry Wood Primary & Nursery School
Pershore High
Prince Henry's High School
St Barnabas CE Primary School, Worcester
St George's Catholic Primary School, Worcester
St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Worcester
Stanley Road Primary School
Tenbury High Ormiston Academy
The Chantry School
The Chase
The De Montfort School
Tudor Grange Primary Academy Perdiswell
Westacre Middle School
Westlands First School
Witton Middle School
Wychbold First & Nursery School

Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams in Schools referral information

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: We are currently running a self referral pilot project in three Worcestershire 6th form schools:

Baxter College
St Augustine College
The De Montfort School

So, if you are a student in year 12 or year 13 at any of these three schools and would like support from us you can refer yourself to our service using the below link:

Self-referral form

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.