Mental Health

Supporting Children and Families with their Mental Health and Well-Being

Teaching children about keeping mentally healthy and taking positive steps to improve their well-being is an integral part of our PSHE curriculum. We believe that supporting families with mental health and well-being is equally as important – please use these resources below for you and your family and please also do not hesitate to contact a member of school staff if you need more support with this.

Mental Health Support Team

Clapham Manor has been working with the Lambeth Mental Health Support Team (MHST) since February 2023. The MHST are an early intervention, evidence-based service who work with schools and school communities, offering support for mild to moderate mental health needs. The Lambeth MHST offers group interventions, workshops, assemblies, training for schools’ professionals, events for families, and more! They also work with individual parents/carers, using evidence-based, time-limited guided self-help interventions. Their interventions are based upon cognitive-behavioural approaches. They support parents/carers whose children are experiencing fears and worries, or have behaviours that are challenging for adults to manage. Once again, please contact a member of staff at school if you would like more information about how the Lambeth Mental Health Support Team could support you and your family.

Community Resources

There are many community resources and service available to support families or individuals with their mental health and well-being. This online guide provides information such as tips for well-being, a directory of services available and help and support available.

Online Resources

Qwell is a free anonymous tool which offers a range of mental health and well-being support to adults.

Kooth is an online mental well-being community for adults from 10-25.

The Anna Freud Online Centre is an excellent resource for parents and carers with a wealth of information to support children and families experiencing poor mental health or well-being. We use lots of these school resources for our lessons at school too! This parent and carer guide is particularly useful.

Young Minds is a fantastic charity working hard to support children experiencing poor mental health – their parent section is full of useful tips and resources to support families.

Place2Be is a mental health charity that offers support and guidance for parents and carers to help them understand and respond to children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health needs. Through practical advice, resources and guidance, parents and carers can learn ways to support their child, have conversations about feelings and recognise when additional support may be needed. Place2Be also provides information to help families build positive relationships and promote children’s emotional wellbeing.

Books and Key Texts

We know the power of using books and stories to approach and discuss difficult topics with children – below is a collection of booklists for you to use when discussing these issues with your children and family:

CELEBRATING DIFFERENCE AND DIVERSITY

EMOTIONAL LITERACY

CHALLENGING GENDER NORMS AND STEREOTYPES

RELATIONSHIPS AND DIFFERENT FAMILIES

https://www.popnolly.com/books

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/15355.LGBTQ_Children_s_Literature

BOOKS TO SUPPORT CHILDREN WITH BEREAVEMENT

https://www.cruse.org.uk/about-cruse/publications/recommended-books/books-for-children

BOOKS TO SUPPORT PUPILS WITH MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/85300.Picture_Books_About_Mental_Health

https://www.tes.com/news/15-books-support-childrens-mental-health

http://www.build-happy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Buildhappy-Book-list-to-support-and-explore-mental-health-and-wellbeing-in-children_branded.pdf