Extra mental health support to be developed at Bognor and Felpham schools

Extra mental health support is set to be developed at schools in Bognor and Felpham after a successful bid by the county council.
West Sussex County Council said new specialist mental health support teams will work with children in more than 20 schools, as part of a one-year pilot. Stuttershock imageWest Sussex County Council said new specialist mental health support teams will work with children in more than 20 schools, as part of a one-year pilot. Stuttershock image
West Sussex County Council said new specialist mental health support teams will work with children in more than 20 schools, as part of a one-year pilot. Stuttershock image

West Sussex County Council said new specialist mental health support teams will work with children in more than 20 schools, as part of a one-year pilot, which has also been launched in Crawley. It comes after a joint partnership was formed between the county council, West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Groups and the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

A spokesman said: "West Sussex has been successful in a bid to develop extra mental health support in schools across two pilot areas."Following an analysis of need, the one-year pilot will be rolled out in north-west Crawley and in Bognor Regis and Felpham."The specialist teams will; provide one-to-one support to children with mild to moderate mental health issues, building on the support already available; work alongside school counsellors, nurses and designated mental health leads and introduce or develop their whole school or college approach and liaise with external specialist services to help students with more severe needs to get the right support.Richard Burrett, cabinet member for education and skills, said: “One in nine young people aged five to 15 are believed to have a mental health condition and we know early intervention is crucial. So I’m delighted that West Sussex school children will benefit from this exciting new pilot and I look forward to seeing it progress.”

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The mental health support teams will now be developed and should be up and running in West Sussex by September 2020, the county council said. The spokesman said it is part of NHS England’s 'ambition to roll out the specialist support nationally' to reach up to a quarter of the country’s young people by 2022-23.

Alison Wallis, clinical director for children and young people’s services at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are so pleased that we were successful in our bid for this new service and that we will be able to improve and build on the early and preventative support that we currently provide for children and young people in West Sussex.“Young people spend a large proportion of their time at school, so it really does make sense for there to be teams based in schools who are specially trained in how to support young people if they raise concerns about their mental health or emotional well-being. “I am really looking forward to seeing the positive impact that this pilot service will make.”

Dr Patience Okorie, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) director for Crawley said it is an 'exciting development'.

She added: "It has come at a time when we have seen increasing need for emotional and mental well-being support amongst young people. We recognise the need for early intervention and support and had found there was a huge gap for this."The new pilot service is a great opportunity to ensure young people get the help they need at the right time and the right place.”

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