Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Support
The following are all ways that we work to support our students with their emotional wellbeing and mental health here at RGS: | |
|---|---|
| Designated Student Wellbeing Manager | The school has a designated member of staff (Ms Williams-Brown), who works with students and families to support students with their wellbeing and mental health. Ms Williams-Brown also works closely with the school counsellor, the Emotional Wellbeing Practitioner team and external professionals; including NELFT and the Early Help Team. |
| School Counselling Service | The school has access to ten hours per week of designated counselling from a trained counsellor (Mrs J Talbot). We also have access to a trainee counsellor who provides additional support to Year 13 students only. Counselling referrals can be made for a variety of factors and give students the access to one-hour of support each week for an initial period of six weeks. |
| Mental Health Training for Staff | Our key pastoral staff (Heads of House and Student Wellbeing Manager) have completed mental health awareness training. This ensures that those pastoral staff working directly with students have a thorough understanding of how best to support students with their emotional wellbeing and mental health. |
Mental Health First Aid
| The school has a dedicated Mental Health First Aider (Ms C Phillips) who has completed additional training to provide support to students. |
| Peer Mentor Support | In September 2022, the school will be working with Project Salus to launch Peer Mentors – 30 students who will be trained mentors to support any students who are finding particular areas of school life difficult. This could be for general struggles around settling in and the transition to secondary school, struggling with anxiety or simply needing that additional person to talk about how they are feeling. |
| Emotional Wellbeing Practitioner Team | The school has access to an Emotional Wellbeing Practitioner – Mr K O’Sullivan Day who is allocated to the school through NELFT each Monday, and delivers support through group sessions to students around managing anxiety. |
| Wellbeing Hub | In April 2022, the school launched the new RGS Wellbeing Hub, a dedicated space within the school constructed to offer support to students for emotional and mental health. Ms Williams-Brown (Student Wellbeing Manager) oversees this space, with the room being open every lunchtime for drop-ins, and for students to refer themselves to receive additional support where required. |
| ELSA | The school has a trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistant – Ms Groves, who works with five students per week over an initial six-week period to develop support strategies for students with their emotional and social skills. |
| MIND | Support delivered by a MIND practitioner to students on a one to one basis within school. |
| Kooth | Students have access to a free and anonymous counselling service delivered by trained counsellors through the app Kooth. The service is completely free to all young people and also offers support through the in-app features that are also available for all students to use. More information can be found by visiting www.kooth.com |
As well as the above methods of support, the school will actively promote positive mental health through its pastoral tutor programme, the PSHE curriculum and by taking part in events such as Children’s Mental Health Week.