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A message from Patrick Leeson:

20 June 2017 weekly update

20 June 2017

This week, Patrick outlines the developments made recently to improve the support services in Kent for children and young people's emotional health and wellbeing.

Dear Colleagues

Improving Support for Emotional Health and Wellbeing

We have been working on a number of developments in recent months to improve support services for children and young people’s emotional health and wellbeing. These developments include a new CAMHS arrangement from September, more support for emotional health through the School Health Service which began in April and the rollout of the Big Lottery funded Headstart programme in Kent.

KCC, Public Health and the seven Kent Clinical Commissioning Groups, have been working together for some time to improve the quality and scope of universal, targeted and specialist Emotional Health and Mental Wellbeing provision across the County. The aim is to deliver a new whole system approach with support that extends beyond the traditional reach of commissioned Emotional Health and Wellbeing Services.

All partners want to support children, young people and their families, working together to help them respond to and overcome specific challenges that they may face. The new CAMHS model and joint commissioning approach aims to redress the current gaps and blockages in the pathway that children, young people and their families tell us they experience when accessing mental health services in Kent.

The new model, which has been developed alongside the principles and approaches, articulated within Future in Mind, outlines a whole system approach to emotional wellbeing and mental health. There will be a single point of access, and clear seamless pathways to support, ranging from universal support in schools into targeted support in ‘Early Help’ through to Highly Specialist care, with better transition between the services.

In order to ensure clarity and equality of provision across the County one new provider, North East London Foundation Trust, will deliver tier two and three services County wide. Public Health will be working in partnership with Kent Community Hospital Foundation Trust to deliver the county wide universal and targeted emotional health and wellbeing service.

The Emotional Health and Wellbeing (EWB) Programme sets out that all providers will be working together to achieve common outcomes for the benefit of children and young people. It obliges providers to use their expertise to establish, with children, young people and families, the most appropriate intervention to their current need:

  • Ensuring children and young people receive appropriate treatment, in the right place, at the right time.
  • Working in a climate of mutual trust and support to ensure that the required service deliverables are achieved and children and young people gain the required outcomes.
  • Operating a single point of access for the Targeted and Specialist Mental Health Service for Children and Young People.

Public Health

This part of the strategy started in April this year and provides support for pupils’ mental health and emotional resilience in schools from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. This is delivered through the School Health Team who will provide more drop-ins at schools for advice and information, and in youth clubs and other community venues. There will also be a new website for children and young people and the availability for web chat. This service will refer on to specialist services where necessary.

How to Refer:

Phone 0300 123 4496
Email:
kchft.schoolhealth@nhs.net
Refer online: www.kentcht.nhs.uk/school-health

New CAMHS Provider

North East London Foundation Trust will provide the new county wide CAMHS from 1 September. Part of the offer will be Mental Health Workers in the Early Help Units and in the Kent Education Health Needs Service. There will be a single point of access for referrals to the new service that will be communicated shortly.

Headstart

In addition to this new county wide commissioned service, the Headstart programme has been running since September 2016. Headstart complements the work of the commissioned pathway and will not duplicate what is already being offered by the newly commissioned services.

In June 2016 KCC was one of only six Local Authorities nationally who were successful in winning financial support from the Big Lottery to develop an Emotional Resilience model for joint work with schools. The aim of the Headstart Programme is to improve the mental well-being of at-risk 10 to 16 year-olds in Kent and specifically those who have been impacted by domestic abuse.

Alongside the commissioned Emotional Health and Wellbeing Pathway the Headstart programme will be working in partnership to implement a locally developed prevention strategy, with the young person and their needs at its core

Over the 5-year lifetime of the Headstart programme the aim is that Kent young people and their families will have improved resilience, by developing their knowledge and lifelong skills to maximise their own and their peers’ emotional health and wellbeing; in order to help them to navigate their way to support when needed in ways which work for them.

HeadStart Kent School Grouping areas will be resourced for a period of 18 months to 2 years within certain geographical groupings around schools. Over the 5 years, 9 groupings including 134 schools will benefit from the additional resources of HeadStart within Level 2 and Level 3.

For more information about the new Emotional Health and Wellbeing services please contact: Stuart.Collins@kent.gov.uk, Director of Early Help and Preventative Services.

Patrick Leeson
Corporate Director
Children, Young People and Education