Mental Health

At Myton we believe in promoting positive Mental Health and emotional wellbeing to ensure that the School is a community where everyone feels safe, supported and able to thrive.

How does Myton promote positive mental health?

In school, we teach young people about the importance of taking care of their mental health through our curriculum and daily practice, with an emphasis on positive relationships, kindness and a culture of talking about problems openly.

Our PSHE and Life Skills curriculum is taught to all students across the school, including Sixth Form. It is about helping students to understand that a healthy mind is as important as a healthy body and enabling them to build skills that will help them to be successful as adults, such as respect for themselves and others, resilience, and building positive relationships.

We are excited to be a part of the Attachment Aware and Trauma Informed Schools Project co-ordinated by the Warwickshire Virtual School and supported by the Educational Psychology Service. This has given all Myton staff access to training on the impact of childhood experiences on the developing brain, ways in which students may communicate how they are feeling via their behaviour and using Emotion Coaching to promote positive interactions and healthy ways of coping.

What if my child is experiencing difficulties with their mental health and wellbeing?

It is important to understand that being mentally healthy does not mean being happy all the time and neither does it mean avoiding stresses altogether. It is normal to feel worried, sad or angry at times and young people need to know that this does not mean there is anything ‘wrong’ with them. One of the most important ways to help your child is to listen to them and take their feelings seriously. You can access advice here.

Parents and carers may also find it helpful to access the free online course on ‘Understanding Your Teenagers Brain’ from Warwickshire Children and Families service.

If you are worried about your child, please let us know. If they have been unhappy or anxious for a significant period of time, their negative feelings are stopping them from getting on with their usual activities, their distress is disrupting family life or if they are repeatedly behaving in ways you would not expect at their age, then they may need additional support. If this is the case, please contact your child’s Form Tutor in the first instance.

What support is available?

All referrals are triaged by the school Mental Health Lead who will identify the most appropriate intervention depending on the student’s individual circumstances. This may be counselling, CBT, mentoring sessions with a key adult in school, one of a wide variety of group interventions run by staff within our Nurture Provision or Inclusion Team, or a referral to an external agency for more specialist support.

You can find out more about Social, Emotional and Mental Health provision at Myton School here.

The Mental Health in Schools Team is a service that has been introduced as part of the national Trailblazer Project for children, young people and their families within the education setting. They work closely with our school Mental Health Lead to provide timely and effective, low-intensity mental health interventions and support for students. You can find out more about the MHST and how they work with Schools here.

We are delighted to be able to offer our Sixth Form students the opportunity to attend a fortnightly mental health and wellbeing ‘drop in’ run by Springfield Mind. You can find out more about Mind and the wonderful work they do in our local community here.

While most young people with Mental Health or emotional wellbeing concerns will only need additional support for a short period, we recognise that some young people will have more long-term Mental Health needs that mean they require reasonable adjustments to access Education. Where this is the case, we will work in collaboration with parents or carers and other professionals to provide additional support to allow them to reach their full potential.

Support for parents and carers

At Myton, we are committed to supporting the wellbeing of our whole school community, including parents and carers. If you are experiencing difficulties that are impacting on your own emotional wellbeing, please talk to us. We can help parents and carers to access a range of services that provide practical, emotional and financial support.

Parents and carers of children and young people under the age of 25 who have SEND (including SEMH needs) can access counselling and peer mentoring support via the Parenting Project. You can find out more about the service here.

The Family Information Service also provide advice, information and support on a range of issues including emotional wellbeing, parenting support and family relationships.