Mental Health & Wellbeing

 

Mental Health & Wellbeing

 

Elsa approach

An ELSA in a school is an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. There is a recognised training course aimed specifically at Teaching Assistants or other specialist school roles. ELSAs are specialists with a wealth of experience of working with  children and young people. ELSAs are trained and regularly supervised by Educational Psychologists. The course tends to be 6 full days and covers many areas from emotional literacy to active listening.

ELSAs are warm, kind and caring people who want to make children and young people feel happy in school. and to reach their potential socially, emotionally and academically. They understand the barriers to learning that some children and young people might have and can help them with this.

They can support the children and young person’s emotional development and help them cope with life’s challenges. ELSAs will also help children and young people to find solutions to problems they might have.

An ELSA is not there to fix problems but to help them find their own solutions and offer that important support to a child or young person.

Relationships are key in helping children and young people to feel safe and nurtured. ELSA is about creating a reflective space for the child or young person.

What areas does an ELSA help with?

• Loss and bereavement
• Emotional Literacy
• Self-esteem
• Social Skills
• Friendship issues
• Relationships
• Managing strong feelings
• Anxiety and worries
• Bullying
• Conflict
• Emotional Regulation
• Growth Mindset
• Social and therapeutic stories
• Problem solving

How are children or young people referred for ELSA?

• Class teacher referral
• Sendco referral
• Parent referral through their school
• Child referral through their school
• Outside agency referral

 

Compass Go

Compass GO… Mental Health Support Team works with children, young people, families and educational settings in North East Lincolnshire. They provide support, help and advice for pupils, students and schools for issues related to emotional and mental health wellbeing. Their work with educational settings across North East Lincolnshire includes providing advice, information and support to staff in promoting emotional and mental health wellbeing. They also work with children and young people on a 1:1 basis offering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy intervention.  The service is made up of Education Mental Health Practitioners and Supervising Practitioners from a range of health and education backgrounds.

 

Jigsaw

How would children benefit if they could be aware of their thoughts and feelings as they happen, in the present moment, on purpose with no judgement?

This is what mindfulness means. It can be learnt, and techniques to develop it taught. It also needs to be practised. We believe mindfulness is a vital tool for life, not only does it support the regulation of emotion and build emotional resilience but also enhances focus and concentration; both helping to optimise learning.

Mindful children can more readily choose their responses to situations rather than react while caught up in the thought-flows and emotions.

In Jigsaw PSHE, mindfulness is developed through the ‘Calm Me’ time in each piece (lesson). This consists of breathing techniques, awareness exercises, visualisations etc, all tried, tested and very

enjoyable activities for children and teachers alike. Observing your thoughts and feelings, on purpose, in the present moment with no judgement…what a gift!

 

Celebrating differences

As a school we actively raise awareness for numerous special events throughout the calendar including:

• Mental Health week
• Anti-Bullying Week
• Children in Need
• Comic Relief
• Down’s Syndrome day
• Christmas Jumper day
• NSPCC number day