Service description
Mental Health Support Teams in Schools (MHST) are part of a national programme to reduce inequalities and increase access to mental health support for children and young people.
The LPT service works with over 300 schools across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Who are the Mental Health Support Teams in Schools (MHST)?
We are NHS teams that work in your child’s school. We help children and young people aged 5 to 18 years old who need some support with their feelings and mental health. The MHST have practitioners who are trained to support children and young people with their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
We also work with teachers and school staff to make schools a better place for everyone’s emotional wellbeing.
How we work with schools and colleges
- We support schools and colleges to learn more about mental health and the things that can help to promote positive emotional wellbeing. We encourage schools and colleges to make positive changes to help everyone.
- We help everyone to know it is okay to talk about their feelings and ask for support.
- We offer workshops and assemblies on positive mental health.
The team work collaboratively with the school or college mental health lead and senior leadership team to raise awareness and promote better mental health for everyone as part of the schools’ or college’ ‘Whole School and College Approach‘.
Information for schools
If your school would like more information on the MHST programme, please contact: lpt.llrmhstinfo@nhs.net
How MHSTs will support your school (core offer)
We will deliver evidence-based interventions for mild-moderate mental health issues in one of the following ways:
- Individual face-to-face work: Offer a range of psychological interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health presentations in line with evidence based practice.
- Group work: Group work to support children and young people with emotional regulation.
- Parenting interventions to support parents and carers with psychoeducation and strategies to support parents for children experiencing anxiety.
- Whole school approach: The team work collaboratively with the school or college mental health lead and senior leadership team to raise awareness and promote better mental health for everyone as part of the schools’ or college’ ‘Whole School and College Approach‘. We will also provide you with a welcome pack to support ongoing collaborative working, explain about the MHST offer, criteria and referral pathways.
As a participating school, you will be required to:
- Identify a named member of senior staff to be the Mental Health Lead. They will liaise with our MHST practitioners to discuss either individual students or whole school concerns. The Mental Health Lead will play an important part within school in sharing best practice, lessons learned and supporting the involvement of colleagues such as the SENCO or the pastoral team.
- Involve children, young people, and their families or carers from the school community in the ongoing development of the MHST.
- Supporting with creating a tailored MHST service through service evaluation and audits to support with the development of the MHST service offer.
- Identify an appropriate and confidential space on site to be used for group work and individual interventions.
Referral criteria
Referral process
Mental health concerns regarding specific children and young people are referred by the school’s mental health lead following discussion with the MHST team. Consent is obtained from parents/carers prior to consultation. Advice and signposting to other appropriate services can also be provided by MHST.