NHS Mental Health and Support Teams
Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) are a service designed to help meet the mental health needs of children and young people in education settings. They are made up of Children and Young People’s Mental Health Practitioners and Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs).
Wirral CAMHS has been successful in multiple bids for funding which will enable us to develop and roll out MHST’s across all local primary schools. The service was originally developed in Autumn/Winter 2020 and continues to expand.
The service has three core functions:
- To deliver brief evidence-based interventions to support children and young people with mild-moderate mental health problems
- To support schools in developing their whole school approach to mental health
- To provide timely advice to school staff and liaison with external services, to help children and young people to get the right help and stay in education
What we offer
The team will offer assessments and interventions for a range of mental health needs that may be less complex or may be managed by time-limited interventions. For example, children and young people who demonstrate anxiety, low mood and behavioural difficulties which do not meet the diagnostic threshold for specialist clinical support. Interventions will promote resilience and support children and young people to develop the skills and techniques to manage their emotions. These will be delivered through a range of individual work and groups for both children and young people and parents/carers as well as through whole class room activities depending on the assessed needs.
A mild mental health issue is when a person has a small number of symptoms that have a limited effect on their daily life.
A moderate mental health issue is when a person has more symptoms that can make their daily life much more difficult than usual.
A severe mental health issue is when a person has many symptoms that can make their daily life extremely difficult.
A person may experience different levels at different times.
The teams will act as a link with the Specialist CAMHS teams who support young people aged 0-18 with moderate to severe mental health difficulties which are having a significant impact on daily functioning.
The NHS Long Term Plan has announced that by 2023/24 MHST’s will be rolled out to at least a quarter of the country. Wirral CAMHS will continue to bid for further funding with the aim of eventually being able to increase this offer across all schools across the borough.
For more information about Mental Health Support Teams you can visit: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/cyp/trailblazers/