Mental Health Support Team [MHST]
Schools play an important role in supporting the wellbeing of children and young people at a time when they are experiencing lots of physical, emotional and social changes. Nationally, the introduction of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) working within schools is a new approach to provide an additional source of support to young people and their families.
In Bristol, South Gloucestershire the MHST programme is being delivered in partnership between Off the Record (OTR) and Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP), both of whom are already delivering mental health support services locally.
MHSTs are working with a number of schools across Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset. The teams are being trained to offer support to children and young people for mild to moderate mental health difficulties that could include; anxieties, low mood, exam stress and friendship issues. They will use evidence based interventions to support children and young people, called low intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (LI-CBT). These will help to tackle the challenges and emotional wellbeing needs that children and young people experience, by helping them to feel more resilient, arming them with techniques to look after themselves, and providing strategies to help them cope better with life’s ups and downs.
This follows the recommended treatment for depression and anxiety in children from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
The MHSTs will be working in schools with what we call a ‘whole-school approach’. The teams will work in partnership with other service providers across health and social care and the youth sector to ensure young people and their families receive the right support at the right time. This could involve offering training, co-delivering parenting workshops, building resources or helping the school with their own systems to improve outcomes for children and young people in their school.
