how can social, emotional and mental health (semh) needs be met at a whole school level?
social emotional mental health strategy, children and young people 0-25, 2020-2023
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semh strategy
semh needs are a type of special educational need where a child communicates through behaviour in response to unmet social, emotional or mental health needs.
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poor emotional and mental health affects a significant number of children and young people:
in england 15.4% of pupils in primary schools have recognised special educational needs (department of education, 20152). the sen code of practice has undergone recent changes with behaviour, emot…
all of our pupils have had previous difficulties with social, emotional skills and their mental health, which have been a barrier to learning in their previous academic settings. around half of our pupils are diagnosed as having an autistic spectrum condition, and some may be in the process of currently being assessed. for pupils with asc or adhd, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, attachment disorder and other specific learning disorders such as dyslexia and dyspraxia, reddish hall is a school that can provide structure, understanding and support. these help to bring about improvements in behaviour, confidence and self-belief, which lead to accelerated learning inside the classroom and beyond.
the clinical team carries out a series of assessments which provide detailed information about our pupils; these details can be used to set individual targets, to identify areas of strength and targets, and to draw up accurate profiles for each pupil.
supporting students with semh (social emotional and mental health) difficulties can be very challenging for us as therapists, including parents and teachers alike, as none us are mental health practitioners! in addition to this, access to support is frustratingly limited due to overwhelming demand and funding cuts. so, for this blog post, i’d like to …
the world is not an easy place for young people at the moment. we’ve just come out of an unprecedented period of anxiety over covid-19, with its lockdowns and changes in societal behaviour, and in the background is the possibility of an uninhabitable planet in the future due to climate change, as well as the threat of nuclear war.that’s not forgetting worries closer to home, such as concerns surrounding the cost of living, caring responsibilities, academic expectations and social media led peer-pressure. here, we look at what more can be done to support our young people with their social, emotional and mental health (semh) needs.how big is the problem?it’s estimated that there are around 150,000 young people dealing with semh issues at the moment. that’s 1 in 6 of our young people (aged from 6-16), and that figure has risen from 1 in 9 in 2017. the problem is particularly concerning among young women aged between 17 – 19 where it’s thought that 1 in 4 have a probable mental health condition. most typically, young people are affected by anxiety and/or depression, as well as social phobias such as self-consciousness and insecurity.these conditions present themselves in different ways in each individual, but can be generally characterised by some or all of the following: inability to concentrateirritabilitysleep issuesfatigueanxiety loss of friendships sadnessrestlessnessweight gain/lossthoughts of death or suicideas a result, teachers and support staff have seen a rise in behaviours such as self-harm, anger, withdrawal, frustration, verbal and physical aggression, and anti-social behaviour. the data suggest that if the semh needs of these young people are not met and addressed effectively, their life chances are impaired. they are more vulnerable to leaving school with no qualifications, be unemployed, to develop substance abuse problems, be caught in the criminal justice system, be victims of sexual abuse, or be homeless. young people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds or ethnic minority households are most at risk of these outcomes.what support is there currently?the government suggests four early intervention strategies to identify and support young people with semh needs:preventionidentification early supportaccess to specialist supportfollowing the government’s 2017 green paper for transforming children and young people’s mental health, a document was published entitled ‘promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing: a whole school or college approach’, which outlined ‘8 principles of a whole school or college approach to promoting mental health and wellbeing’. in it, these eight principles were identified as:an ethos and environment that promotes respect, and values diversitycurriculum teaching and learning to promote resilience, and support social and emotional learningtargeted support and appropriate referral enabling student voices to influence decisionsworking with parents and carersstaff development to support their own wellbeing and that of studentsidentifying needs and monitoring impact of interventionsleadership and management that supports and champions efforts to promote emotional health and wellbeingtwo main commitments were made: the establishment of mental health support teams in education settings, creating new educational mental health practitioners to act as a link between young people and children and young people’s mental health services (cypmhs), and pilots to build consensus on an approach to defining and measuring waiting times. the government also committed £79 million for mental health support for children and young people in england, which is being used to expand the support available. is enough being done?despite this initiative and its apparent importance to the government, the children’s commissioner notes in a 2021 report that services are still nowhere near meeting the level of need and hundreds of thousands of children are being left without help as a result. anne longfield cbe, the author of the report and the previous children’s commissioner, noted the situation was exacerbated by the impact of covid-19 which disrupted education, limited opportunities, and added to the strain on young people’s mental health. this resulted in a 50% rise in clinically significant mental health conditions compared to three years earlier. the british medical journal (bmj) also notes that only a quarter of the children who needed treatment received it, and that those who did get access to a service had to wait weeks or months for treatment, with only 20% of children starting treatment within four weeks. the bmj also highlights the lack of funds available to provide the support needed, noting that local commissioning groups spend less than 1% of their budget on children’s mental health services, 14 times less than on adult services. what can be done?clearly the demand is greater than the need, and anyone who has tried to access children’s mental health support services, despite the exemplary work being done in schools, recognises that children are being let down. there is no doubt that children’s mental health services are expanding, but many professionals fear that the growth is too slow to deal with what’s being called an epidemic of mental health conditions in our young people, and some receive little or no support. the answer, like many of the problems in our society, is greater targeted funding. however, given the spending constraints currently in place due to a variety of factors, it is debatable whether things will improve significantly in the near future. meanwhile, teachers and school support staff will continue to go above and beyond to offer support to those young people who need it most. get in touchif you need help recruiting education professionals, contact supply pool recruitment to speak to one of our specialist recruiters.
institute of integrated systemic therapy (childhood first)
takeway: many ‘problem behaviours’ in children are a sign of deeper issues that need to be resolved. they’re a sign of unmet social, emotional, and mental health (semh) needs. the bad news is that these issues won’t magically sort themselves out. but the good news is that skilled practitioners have an array of tools and […]
animal assisted intervention programmes support the emotional wellbeing of children and young people via the utilisation of animals and a trained therapist
treeton c of e primary school
we currently hold a space within education that places the demand on schools to fill the gaps in provision for pupil mental health and wellbeing. with dwindling school budgets and universal service cuts, along with the demand to show positive growth in pupil attainment, it is not surprising that schools feel overwhelmed with the growing need for pupil social, emotional and mental health (semh) support in education.
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