Emotional and mental health support for children and young people
If you have any concerns about your child or young person's emotional and mental health and wellbeing, you should talk to your GP or school or education setting SENCO in the first instance.
Educational settings can do a lot to support children and young people with their emotional and mental health and wellbeing.
Many schools offer pastoral support, whole class, group and individual interventions and other approaches to developing the emotional wellbeing of children and young people, for example citizenship programmes and anti-bullying policies.
Some children and young people need more targeted or specialist support. There are lots of services available to support children and young people with their emotional and mental health and wellbeing.
Some of the services listed below can be accessed without a referral and others will need a referral from a professional who's working with your child or young person.
You can find out more about each organisation's referral processes on their websites.
Kooth (young people age 11 to 25)
Kooth is an online, mental health and wellbeing service for children and young people. It is free and provides a wide range of therapeutic tools to help children and young people and support their mental wellbeing. The team of accredited counsellors provide safe and effective support to children and young people.
Kooth also have a useful guide for parents on supporting your child with mental health concerns.
Lumi Nova
An engaging child-led, parent/guardian supported therapeutic intervention that can be used on most smartphones or tablets. It facilitates graded exposures (the active ingredient of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) with psychoeducation to empower 7 to12-year-olds with mild to moderate needs to learn to self-manage fears, worries and anxiety.
Watch this short animated video to learn more:
Shout
Shout is a free, confidential, 24/7 text support service for anyone in the UK who is struggling to cope.
To start a conversation, text the word HERE to 85258.
Shout's trained volunteers are there to listen at any time of day or night, and messages won't appear on phone bills.
Shout 85258 is a de-escalation, volunteer-driven service. Shout work with people in immediate distress to take them through text conversation to a calmer moment and empower them with support and techniques to take their next steps to feeling better and handle future issues, as well as possibly signposting someone to further support services or their GP so that they can get continuous and long-term support.
There is no limit on the number of text conversations.
Find out more about Shout.
Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams (WEST) in schools
An in schools service is designed to help children and young people ages 5-18 years access mental health and wellbeing support early on in educational settings. It's all about ensuring children and young people can get access to the right help as early as possible.
Find out more about WEST, including whether they are working in your child or young person's school or college.
Onside Advocacy
Onside Advocacy provide a range of early intervention support for children and families and have experience of supporting neurodivergent children, young people and their families. View the services they offer at Melo: Onside Advocacy, Worcestershire & Herefordshire.
Melo takes an innovative and flexible approach to improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people age d 0-25 years. It will provide a wide range of services designed to meet individual mental health needs.
Strong Young Minds
The Strong Young Minds programme is for all young people in Herefordshire. The programme works with young people to address issues which can have a negative effect on their mental health and wellbeing – things like anxiety, depression, eating difficulties, self-harm, bullying, relationship breakdown, education and employment, low self-esteem, body image and loss.
Find out more about Strong Young Minds.
NHS Herefordshire & Worcestershire Talk Therapies (16 years – adults)
Talking Therapies provides a range of free, confidential support to people aged 16 and over across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. This includes:
Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
CAMHS provides specialist mental health support to children, young people and families across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. This is specialist support for children and young people experiencing mental illness or very difficult feelings and experiences.
The CAMHS website provides more information about the services available.
Whilst some parents and carers might find it helpful to attend parenting workshops and training sessions, this is not a pre-requisite for their child or young person to be accepted onto the referral pathway.
Herefordshire Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Learning Disability Service
The CAMHS Learning Disability Service is made up of a range of professionals who specialise in supporting young people who have a diagnosis of a learning disability, and their families.
This includes, clinical psychologists, CAMHS practitioners with a background in different therapies, and learning disability psychiatrists.
Find out more about the CAMHS Learning Disability Service.
Herefordshire & Worcestershire Key Worker Service (under 25s diagnosed with autism)
The Key Worker service is a team that offers support to young people with learning disabilities and / or a formal diagnosis of autism, who are at risk of being admitted to a hospital as a mental health inpatient. The team work closely with the young person and family to help to understand your needs and act on your behalf to co-ordinate access health, education and social care support in the community. View a short video about the service on Youtube.
National support
There is also the NHS mental health emergency helpline number 111 (Select the option for mental health) plus the following:
- Call 116 123 to talk to Samaritans, or email: jo@samaritans.org for a reply within 24 hours.
- Text "SHOUT" to 85258 to contact the Shout Crisis Text Line.
- If you're under 19, you can call 0800 1111 to talk to Childline. The number will not appear on your phone bill.
Are you a young person in crisis? Visit the Young Minds website for more support.