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In West Sussex, the Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) is named "Thought-Full", a name chosen by children and young people. The service is part of the strategic vision for the development of children’s mental health provision across Sussex.
What Support can they offer?
Thought-Full can offer short-term (4-10 sessions) interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate difficulties.
The interventions are based on cognitive (managing difficult thoughts and the behaviours they lead to) or behavioural ideas (considering changes to behaviours that may keep the difficulty going e.g. avoidance or withdrawal) and can be delivered 1:1 or in groups. These interventions rely on a collaborative, goals-based approach. It is therefore important that the young person acknowledges they have a difficulty, and that they are motivated to talk about, and work on this.
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The MHST can support children and young people with:
We believe that the parents are crucial to the good mental health of their children and whilst services can offer support for a period of time, it is the family home that is the consistent factor in shaping a child's wellbeing. To support this, Thought-Full work with schools to provide parent support sessions, training and information.
When working one-to-one with a child or young person Thought-Full also strive to involve parents/carers to varying degrees, depending on the age of the child. This is because you are in the best position to support the implementation and reinforcement of the strategies Thought-Full teach in sessions when at home with your child. You are also best placed to encourage and support the completion of any home practice tasks set from these sessions. If it is assessed as more appropriate, for which it is more commonly with adolescents, we may work directly with your child, involving you with their permission. With younger children in particular, we may work solely with you in order to achieve the best and most effective outcomes for your child.
At Slinfold, Mrs Collins is responsible for the referral process for Thought-Full. Please speak to her if you wish to discuss a possible referral.
FAQ's
Are the sessions confidential?
Confidentiality is an important part of building trust between your child and their allocated practitioner from the Thought-Full team. We will seek parental / carer permission to work with children under 16, involving you in the sessions where appropriate. We will always encourage your child to talk to you to let you know they are working with Thought-Full. What we discuss within the sessions remains confidential between Thought-Full and your child {and you, if you are involved in the sessions}, UNLESS we feel that a child or young person is experiencing, or is at risk of experiencing harm. In which case, we have a duty of care to share this with the local safeguarding team and your child's School Safeguarding lead.
What happens to sessions over school holidays?
Thought-Full are an all year-round service, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. We will be able to continue sessions regardless of school holiday’s, however these may be held virtually over these periods on a secure online platform. This will be agreed directly with you and your child.
How long will my child need to attend sessions with you for?
Our interventions are designed to be short term, so we expect that we will work with your child for up to 10 sessions. Each session is up to an hour long {this is flexible} and we will aim for these to be held over school hours.
Do I have to complete questionnaires and forms?
All practitioners will use a range of tools, which include questionnaires to help us plan together what interventions we will use and then evaluate if the strategy being used is working or not.
How do we use them?
* Supporting discussions within sessions
* Planning goals
* Reviewing if strategies being used are effective
* Feedback used to improve the service
How does my child get referred into your service?
Referrals into this service require the school’s Senior Mental Health Lead having a conversation with your child and explaining the role of the MHST and what it can offer. If your child (and you as their parent/carer, dependent on age) agrees, the Senior Mental Health Lead will then complete the ‘Request for Support Form’ and send this to Thought-Full. If there is something in particular you would like us to know, please ask the Senior Mental Health Lead to add this to the referral.
Our interventions rely on a collaborative working approach for them to be effective. It is therefore important that your child acknowledges they have a difficulty, and that they are motivated to talk about, and work on this.