Targeted emotional health and wellbeing

The School Health Service delivers an emotional health and wellbeing offer to a number of secondary school and college-age students who are experiencing mild to moderate emotional health and wellbeing difficulties, in addition to our text your school nurse, face-to-face school drop-ins and traditional packages of care.

The targeted emotional health and wellbeing package of care offers low level/high impact support to young people who may benefit from early intervention and prevention on mild to moderate mental health and emotional wellbeing difficulties or whose needs are greater and cannot be met from our existing packages of care and who do not meet the criteria for more traditional services such as CAMHS.

We can consider referrals regarding the following:

• excessive general or specific anxious thoughts and worries
• low frequency panic attacks and simple phobias
• low mood
• low self-esteem
• stress/transition
• emotional recognition and regulation
• building resilience
• deliberate self harm
• poor eating patterns or diet affected by and/or affecting mood.

This is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list and all referrals will be discussed and considered at our daily triage meeting.

The targeted intervention is based on an evidence-based cognitive behavioural therapy approach and delivered by specialist community public health nurses and school staff nurses through a robust package of care according to individual level of need, with a shared decision-making approach with the young person to support and identify their specific emotional health and wellbeing difficulty.

Each young person accepted and offered a package of care will complete a health needs assessment and an emotional wellbeing assessment tool throughout the intervention to monitor level of need and risk.

The young person's goals and actions will be recorded in a personal health care plan and reviewed and evaluated at the end of the intervention.

Young people accepted for this targeted intervention will receive sessions of tailored one-to-one support from a qualified nurse, up to six individual sessions, usually every two weeks.

Referrals can be made via students, parents or education practitioners and other health providers.

If you would like to make a referral, discuss a case or find out more, please phone the School Health One Point on 0300 123 4062 or visit our website kentcht.nhs.uk/service/school-health-service-east-sussex/.

The targeted emotional health and wellbeing offer is available to any young person aged 11 to 18 who attends one of the following schools or who is home-educated:

Wealden

• Heathfield Community College
• Uplands Community College
• Uckfield College (UCTC).

Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford

• Cavendish School
• Eastbourne Academy
• Gildredge House
• St Catherine’s College
• Willingdon Community College.

High Weald, Lewes and Havens

• Beacon Academy
• Chailey Secondary School
• Kings Academy
• Priory School.

Colleges

• East Sussex college group - Eastbourne and Lewes only
• Bexhill College
• Plumpton (TBC).

If your educational setting is not listed it is likely you are entitled to support from the Me and my Mind Mental Health Support Teams (MHST), please speak to someone in your school to find out more or visit Me and My Mind Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) - Czone (eastsussex.gov.uk)