Information for Parents - on this page

Information for Students - Click here

These pages are to help parents and students understand the support available in school as well as through external agencies. There are also links to many useful resources. The list is not exhaustive, there are a lot of other resources available online and in local libraries, and it is not an alternative to consulting your GP, which you should always do if you have serious concerns.

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Support for Students in School

We are fortunate to have a wide variety of support available in school to support students mental health and wellbeing as part of our whole school approach which cares for the individual student. Our school is part of the NHS trailblazer program which gives us access to NHS trained Wellbeing Support Workers who work one-one with students.

Students are encouraged that they can talk to any teacher in the school who they are most comfortable with in the first instance, all our staff will offer and empathetic ear and if they are not in a position to support the student themselves they will guide them to the right places. For students their first port of call is generally their form tutor, and form tutors have special drop-in times that they will advertise to their students when they can speak to them about personal matters. For you as a parent, your sons Head of Line (our term for Head of Year) or their PSA (Pastoral Support Assistant) are the main contacts for you to speak to about any concerns. Students can of course go to their Head of Line or PSA with any concerns.

Our Mental Health Lead in school is Mr Potter and he can be contacted on chaplain@wimbledoncollege.org.uk or wellbeing@wimbledoncollege.org.uk

In school we have a number of staff trained as Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) who offer one-one support sessions for students, referrals for this support are made through the Head of Line. We also have support for anger management, social skills and behaviour management, which tends to be small group work.

Wellbeing Support Service - The NHS trailblazer program we are part of offer one-one sessions for students in school to support them with low to moderate level stress, anxiety, low mood, motivation, and sleep issues. Referrals to this service can be made through the Head of Line or Mr Potter the Mental Health Lead.

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Urgent Support Services - PDF of Urgent Support Service and Crisis Lines

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Support from External Agencies

The two main support services we would recommend are "Off the Record" and "Kooth". Off The Record offer face-to-face counselling services for young people, as well as online support. Kooth offer online counselling services. Both services are free and young people are able to refer themselves to access these service. If you have a very serious concern about your child's mental health CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) would be more appropriate, this is higher level support from clinical youth mental health specialists, you can speak to your sons GP to make a referral or speak to your son Head of Line about the school making a referral. 

More external agencies that offer support with more specific needs such as bereavement support, LGBT+ support, self-harm or eating disorders etc.  can be found here 

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Parent Workshops

The NHS trailblazer program regularly run parent workshops on mental health and wellbeing related issues. Below are some of the recordings of previous workshops which you may find helpful. Videos are linked to the titles below, power points for some of the sessions are at the very bottom of this page.

• Exam and Assignment Stress Management Workshop for Parents and Young People
• Coping with assessment and exam stress (short 7 min intro)
• Introduction to Teenage Mental Health (Oct 21) Part 1, Part 2
• Eating difficulties and disorders during the pandemic
• Parenting unmotivated and fed up teenagers
• Self-harm series for parent of teens Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
• Parenting Teens in Times of Uncertainty
• Supporting your teenager with Anxiety
• Supporting your teenager with Lockdown and the return to school.
• Transition to Secondary School - Supporting your Child

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Mental Health and Wellbeing Support for Parents

Your GP is always a good place to go if you are concerned about your own Mental Health, but there are also some other useful places to turn to for support. If you need mental health support in a crisis you can call the 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Line on 0800 028 8000.

All London Boroughs have an IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) Service. This is a direct way that as an adult you can access 'talking therapies' to help support you with many mental health and wellbeing issues. In Merton the service is called "Merton Uplift" and is linked through the picture on the left. If you live in a different borough search for "IAPT" in your local borough. 

Wimbledon Guild offer a wide range of counselling, bereavement support and other support services. If you live outside of Merton "Mind" offer some similar support services.

The NHS "Every Mind Matters" website has a great collection of self-help resources, links to articles and other support serivces.

 

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Links to additional resources - click here