Dear Parents and Guardians,

Please see documents below for:

• Help for the Holidays Summer 2024
• What to expect from Year 11
• Directory of support for families during the school closure

Links below to helpful services:

24/7 mental health crisis line for children, young people, and families:

A new 24/7 mental health crisis line for children, Summer 2024 young people and their families and carers in Surrey has launched. Summer 2024

The freephone number - 0800 9154644 – is available for children and young people up to the age of 18, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).
The new crisis line provides emotional wellbeing support, advice, and signposting to a range of community services for children, young people and their families and carers who are in a mental health crisis. The number is available to those who are already receiving mental health services, and also for those who are not. No referral is needed.

The crisis line is staffed by a team of experienced, trained call handlers and mental health nurses.

A key aim of the crisis line is to help support young people, carers and families within their own homes and in the community and, whenever possible, help avoid the need for children and young people to go to hospital in a crisis.

Get help in a mental health crisis :: Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (sabp.nhs.uk)

Social Media guidance:

As our children spend more time online we would encourage you to continue to monitor the websites, applications and social media channels that they are using. The following links may be of use as a reference point for finding advice and guidance:

https://www.internetmatters.org/inclusive-digital-safety/

Inclusive Digital Safety website which offers a range of advice and guidance for parents and carers

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201088

Guidance around Family Sharing on Apple 

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/09/24/xbox-family-settings-app-launch/

Xbox Family settings app to help manage children’s gaming

Barnardos Help Line:

https://www.barnardos.org.uk/see-hear-respond/carer-referral

Kooth:

Kooth - online mental wellbeing community - free, safe and anonymous support (information document also below).  Check out this video which is a support message to kids to encourage opening up about their concerns: 

• Kooth is an online mental wellbeing service for children and young people/ for adults (depending on which service you’re referring to).
• They encourage you to refer to them as an online mental wellbeing community as peer support is a huge part of what we provide.
• They have a range of different features that support their service users:
  • Content featuring articles written by users
  • Discussion boards
  • Mini activity hub
  • Log and track personal goals
  • Reflection on personal journals
  • Chats with our friendly team of qualified professionals

Surrey Well-Being Partnership:

The Surrey Well-being Partnership (a group of voluntary sector organisations working together to help improve the well-being of Surrey children, young people and families) 

Please click HERE to access the new Facebook page. This page will be regularly updated with new tips and advice. Please do take the time to have a look.

www.surreyyouthfocus.org.uk@SurreyYF 

Life Skills for Teens– The Green Hub

Follow the 8-week mental wellbeing programme https://greenhub.org.uk/lifeskills/

The aim of this online course is to give young people the science of why we behave the way we do when we get overwhelmed, or stressed. And what we can do to counteract this.

You may find several strategies that work for you… or you may just find just ONE that is super helpful!

Understanding how to improve your own mental  wellbeing is super important. 

• For example, otherwise bright and happy people can get very low around exam time, and need to know how to boost how they feel.
• People who tend to get stressed and worry, can still have really great mental wellbeing, meaning they have coping strategies that stop them becoming too low and fed up. 

What’s involved?

• They will send you a short video each week, and a worksheet to have alongside the presentation. 
• Each weekly chapter will explore a different concept where they will discuss studied and scientific information about how our brain work, how we think, and how we can get overwhelmed.
• Work on strategies which you can put in your tool kit for managing every day challenges whether you are going to school or studying at home.

What each of the chapters contains …

• What thoughts are and how they are connected to our behaviour.
• Movement, mood, drinking water and nature
• Signature strengths and patterns of behaviour
• The three parts of the brain that can get overwhelmed and how this can affect our thinking and learning
• A great strategy where you use the acronym called RAIN.
• Body language and posture
• Mindfulness.
• How being playful can make a difference to our mood, along with other aspects such as perfectionism