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Wellbeing

Social, Emotional and Mental Health

At Riverside we know that in order to be able to learn well, children need to feel happy and secure. If children have low emotional wellbeing, are finding it difficult to manage their emotions or have experienced a traumatic event, it can impact quite significantly on their motivation, behaviour and self-esteem, which in turn impacts on their ability to learn. Therefore, we place great importance on supporting children's wellbeing and provide lots of support for those who are feeling anxious, sad or angry.

These are some of the interventions and strategies we use to support children with their emotional wellbeing and build their resilience.

Home School Support Worker (HSSW)

Mrs Lisa Wood is our HSSW and she is available to support parents with any issues that might be impacting on their child's learning or emotional wellbeing. She can provide suggestions for ways to support your child at home and can signpost you to additional services who can help with a wide range of issues. 

Friends Group

This is a structured programme designed to help children develop their resilience and self-confidence. Children work through different scenarios with Mrs Wood and look at ways to think positively whenever they face a challenge - turning 'red' thoughts to 'green' ones.

Lego Therapy

These sessions help children to learn collaborative skills and understand the importance of both talking and listening to others. Children take on different roles within the group each time and develop their ability to share, take turns and work as a team.

Emotional Literacy

Mrs Wood can also offer an intervention as an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA). She can provide focused support to children who are experiencing anxiety, low emotional wellbeing or other mental health issues, or who are displaying challenging behaviours linked to difficulties with managing emotions.

Drawing and Talking

Drawing and Talking is a therapeutic intervention for children. It is designed as a short-term pro-active intervention. Through a 12-week cycle of sessions and utilising drawing as a way to help them express their feelings differently in ordinary verbal language.

Counselling

We have a small number of counselling slots available for children with a more significant level of need. Jemma, our counsellor, offers sessions which are child-led and can involve arts and crafts, play or talking therapy.

NELFT (formerly CAMHS)

Sometimes a child may have a more significant mental health need that requires psychological help at a higher,, more intensive level. This is when we would refer to NELFT in order to access more specialist support.

Support for Families

Please come and speak to us if you need support or advice at home. This could be around parenting, housing, finances or bereavement.

Some useful websites are:

https://www.family-action.org.uk/

https://mentalhealth-uk.org/

https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/

https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/