Issue - meetings

The Board received a report from the Executive Director Children, which provided a summary of the key work taking place locally and at a regional level, to support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

An accompanying presentation was provided which gave an overview of work taking place in Halton by a variety of organisations and teams.  It also included an overview of preventative work that aimed to keep children and young people mentally well, and services that provided direct interventions and support when children and young people were struggling.

Members were also provided with details of the The Resilience Framework and details of the core/statutory services available in Halton.  It was noted that this was not a definitive list of support that was available, as there were many other services that had a positive impact on children and young people’s mental health – these examples were listed. 

The following additional information was provided in response to Members questions:

·         The nurturing agenda was connected to this as all services were encouraged to be part of the network of support, as they all complimented each other;

·         Training was a rolling programme as staff members changed all the time;

·         Not all schools were using the service, as they chose not to.  Some felt they did not need the support; some were doing their own work in the mental health area; and some were dependent upon the availability of funding;

·         It was thought that 1 in 6 children had a probable mental health disorder;

·         Outcomes of services were measured but varied across organisations/teams and  were dependent on the intervention utilised;

·         The remedial role of the service was understood and it was commented that schools and mental health services approach was also prevention, as outlined in the presentation;

·         It was recognised that teachers leaving and joining different schools could be unsettling for children; and the same could be said for the staff members losing colleagues;

·         It was commented by one Member that a simple way of encouraging good mental health in students was to encourage sports – it was felt that extra-curricular activities were becoming exclusive due to the costs involved.  It was noted that all schools’ curriculums did include sports and HBC employed a Schools Games Officer, who worked with schools to encourage sporting activities, events, competitions and support for children and young people with disabilities;

·         Access to the Baby Infant Bonding Service was explained;

·         The main transition period for pupils dealt with by the Team was children transferring from primary to secondary school; any other significant periods would be checked and reported after the meeting; and

·         The number of Educational Phycologists in Halton would also be reported back.

RESOLVED:  That the Board

1)    receive the presentation; and

2)    note the key work and services contributing to the positive mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.