Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs)

MHSTs have been developed to increase earlier access to support with mental health and wellbeing, they are based in schools to support access and help to increase a whole school approach to mental health wellbeing.  An important element of MHSTs is the training and development of the Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMPHs) who are based in the schools that are participating in the project.  EMHPs work alongside a mental health support lead within schools and will collaborate to ensure that the mental health needs within the school are identified and bespoke interventions offered.   

MHSTs offer evidenced based support to help you if you are feeling sad, worried or are struggling with your feelings. 

Our MHST team is made up of 7 Trainee Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) who are currently training with the University of Reading whilst also working clinically.  We also have two Recruit to Train Cognitive Behavioural Therapists (CBT) who are also training at the University of Reading and working clinically.  We have four qualified CBT therapists in the team who provide supervision and also work clinically. We are all very excited to be part of this project and increasing access to mental health support for children and young people.   

We offer interventions that have been shown to help support children and young people overcome difficulties with their mental health and wellbeing.  These may be offered on a 1-1 basis or with your parents/caregivers.

The majority of our interventions use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approaches.  Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a type of therapy that focusses on your thoughts, feelings and behaviour and how these three things interact.

Here is a link which gives a nice overview of accessing CBT from the perspective of a young person. A film about Children and Young People's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme (CYP IAPT) by young people from Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

MH2K has developed a number of short clips providing an overview of some common difficulties experienced that you may find useful to watch.

Nottingham City Targeted CAMHS team and the Nottingham City MHST teams have been working together to develop video clips for Children and Young People and professionals around ways of coping with worry, problem solving, mood management, grounding techniques and other areas. More are being developed and there will be some targeted at supporting caregivers. Have a look at the link YouTube CAMHS Nottingham City

We deliver a range of evidence-based interventions focused on mild to moderate anxiety, low mood and behaviour management.

This may include interventions such as:

• Overcoming Your Child’s Fears and Worries programme: an individual guided self-help intervention for parents of anxious children aged 12 and under
• Webster-Stratton Incredible Years: an individual guided self-help parenting intervention for parents of primary aged pupils
• Worry management for children experiencing anxiety (Year 6 and above)
• Graded exposure (facing feared situations step by step) for children with phobias and other anxiety difficulties (Year 6 and above)
• Support for young people to explore and develop helpful coping strategies specific to improving low mood (Year 6 and above)
• Within our team we also have both Trainee and qualified Cognitive Behavioural Therapists who can support with symptoms indicative of specific anxiety difficulties such as OCD (obsessive compulsive behaviour), GAD (generalised anxiety disorder) or trauma related difficulties and also symptoms indicative of moderate depression. 

The MHST also offers support to school staff by:

• Delivering training on various mental health topics
• Offering consultations (individual or group) where staff can think through their concerns or difficulties regarding students or class groups
• Working with staff to support students individually
• Supporting staff wellbeing
• Delivering bespoke workshops in schools for children and young people addressing a range of themes, such as emotional resilience, preparing for transition and managing fears or preparing for exams and managing stress.
• Peer mentoring within secondary schools

Nottingham City Targeted CAMHS team and the Nottingham City MHST teams have been working together to develop video clips for Children and Young People and professionals around ways of coping with worry, problem solving, mood management, grounding techniques and other areas. More are being developed and there will be some targeted at supporting caregivers. Have a look at the link YouTube CAMHS Nottingham City

We have recently uploaded a YouTube playlist for frontline professionals who have everyday contact with the children & young people of Nottingham - Professionals - How You Doing?

We hope that these short videos can provide you with an understanding of different mental health presentations as well as strategies to support children & young people manage in the following areas:

• Biological regulation – the links between body and mind
• Worry Management – how to overcome excessive worrying
• Problem solving – a practical guide
• Coping Skills – how to enhance resilience
• Mood management – strategies to improve mood
• Trauma informed practice – in relation to the potential impact of Covid-19

All of the above also come with links to useful resources – this can be found in the description of each video.

If Children or Young People are experiencing severe difficulties, where symptoms are having a significant impact on their daily life, requiring more help you can refer to your local Targeted CAMHS Single Point of Access via 0115 876 4000.

For more urgent support in Crisis situations, please contact the CAMHS crisis team for urgent/out of hours support on 0808 196 3779.

Young people under 11 years’ old and on roll of a project school

Parent/Caregivers can use the online Mental Health Referral Form

Parent/Caregivers can call: 0115 876 4899

Parent/Caregivers can Text: 07874 633 715

Parent/Guardians can speak to the Senior Mental Health Lead (SMHL) at school and they will complete a simple referral form with you.

Young people can also speak to a member of school staff who works with them who could support them with completing a referral.

Young people who are 11 years or over and on roll of a project school

Can self-refer using the online Mental Health Referral Form

Can self-refer by calling: 0115 876 4899

Can self-refer by Texting: 07874 633 715

Young people can also speak to a member of school staff who works with them who could support them with completing a referral.

Parent/Caregivers can use the online Mental Health Referral Form

Parent/Caregivers can call: 0115 876 4899

Parent/Caregivers can Text: 07874 633 715

When referrals are received they go through a triage process to explore how your needs can be best met and if the service we offer is appropriate. We may contact you if we need more information.

If the referral is accepted, an MHST practitioner will contact you to arrange an assessment to explore with you what intervention we may be able to offer.

If we are unable to offer you a service, we would discuss other options with you and look to signpost you to other services that may be able to meet your needs.

• Base 51 - offer counselling support for children and young people aged 12-25.

• Kooth - offer counselling support for children and young people aged 11-24.

• Targeted CAMHS - call 0115 8764000 to self-refer or text 07860 002131

Find Targeted CAMHS on Instagram at: camhs_nottinghamcity       

If a young person is having a mental health crisis please contact CAMHS Crisis Team – 0115 9691300.