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Wellbeing and Mental Health

Whole school approach

At De Havilland we follow a whole school nurturing approach. We use the principles of Protective Behaviours as the foundations in all we do. All children are supported in recognising their early warning signs (Uh-Oh feelings) and are taught strategies to self-manage and regulate these feelings. Each class has a comfort zone thermometer to support the children in talking about how they are feeling in different situations and a self-regulation station for children to visit if they are feeling out of their comfort zone. The adults continuously model discussions about their feelings to the children, provide reasoning for the decisions they are making and the strategies they are using, they encourage children to use the ‘incredible 5 point scale’ when learning to recognise their feelings and self-regulate. We use ‘what if’ scenarios to encourage discussion around situations before they happen and to pre-empt situations the children may find tricky. The children are encouraged to recognise their feelings in all situations to enable them to understand what their bodies are telling them.  Some children will need a little more support with this, they may take part in a group intervention or 1:1 sessions.

Group Interventions

Feelings, thoughts and behaviours

An intervention based on Protective Behaviours (PBs). This learning provides a framework for personal safety, self- esteem, resilience and confidence building.  It is an internal process where each person applies the ideas to their own unique experience.

During the sessions the children will explore the following:
 

Theme 1: We all have the right to feel safe all the time
Theme 2: We can talk with someone about anything even if it’s awful or small

  • Unwritten rules and beliefs
  • Feelings, thoughts and behaviours and the Stop, Feel, Think, Do model
  • Support Networks
  • Risking on purpose 
  • The language of safety and the safety continuum.

Sessions are tailored to the need and the age of the children and usually last for 12 weeks.


Friendships and social skills

Social skills groups are small groups (typically two to eight children) led by an adult who teaches the children how to interact appropriately with others their age. They can help them learn conversational, friendship and problem-solving skills. They can also be useful in teaching young people to control their emotions and understand other people’s perspectives. 
Sometimes the children in the group have trouble starting a conversation—or keeping one going. Or perhaps they find it hard to understand body language or non-verbal communication. The adult leads the children through different activities to learn the skills needed to deal with whatever social challenge they’re facing. Most of these sessions include a chance for kids to role-play or practise social skills—and to get feedback on how they’re doing. The sessions also provide the time to discuss different ‘what if’ scenarios. Children can learn important skills that they’ll use the rest of their lives.

This includes learning how to:

  • Greet others
  • Start a conversation
  • Respond to others in appropriate ways
  • Maintain a conversation
  • Share and take turns
  • Work and co-operate in pairs
  • Understand others thoughts and feelings
  • Ask for help

Sessions are tailored to the need and the age of the children and usually last for 6 – 12 weeks.

 

Chill art 

During the chill art sessions the children have the time and opportunity to explore a range of art and manipulative resources. The children are first taught to use the range of media and then encouraged to explore with it. At the beginning of the session the children record how they feel, they then have between 20- 40 minutes using the materials in silence while listening to calming music. At the end of the session the children are given the option to discuss the art they have produced and talk about their feelings.

Chill art can help the children in a number of ways including:

  • Talking about and discussing their feelings in a safe space
  • Exploring emotions through the art making process and the images themselves. 
  • A calm space to focus on their creative selves 
  • The time to be uninterrupted
  • The sessions can provide sensory down time

Sessions are tailored to the need and the age of the children and usually last for 6 – 12 weeks.

 

Aviators Nurture Group

Children attend Aviators but remain an active part of their main class group, spend three half days within the nurture group and typically return full time to their own class within two to four terms. Nurture groups assess social emotional and learning needs and give whatever help is needed to remove the barriers to learning. There is great emphasis on language development and communication. Nothing is taken for granted and everything is explained, supported by role modelling, demonstration and the use of gesture as appropriate. The relationship between the two staff, always nurturing and supportive, provides a role model that children observe and begin to copy. Food is shared at snack time with much opportunity for social learning, helping children to attend to the needs of others, with time to listen and be listened to.

The skills we strive to master include: 

Looking, listening, concentrating, having kind hands, speaking politely, taking turns, being patient, showing tolerance, being kind, showing respect, being honest, working as a team, showing good sportsmanship, being courageous and celebrating our similarities and differences.

1:1 Interventions
 

Drawing and talking

Drawing enables a child to express, in a visual form, worries and preoccupations from deep in the mind that they would not be able to talk about… ‘If only you would just tell me what is wrong’… teachers and parents will say to children. Very often children just don’t know themselves, at a conscious level. Expressing old hurts and present worries through drawing with someone who is receptive to the emotions being expressed in the pictures activates a powerful healing mechanism in the psyche, possibly through the interaction between the right and left brain.

Through the combination of drawing and talking combined, the different sides of the brain can interact with each other. The left side can see in the picture what the right brain has been holding onto, unable to send over to the left for processing. Over time, with an empathic adult giving the child attention and talking with them in a gentle, thoughtful and supportive way, the child can create a story through the pictures that sorts things out, a symbolic resolution (you can’t change what has happened but you can change how you think about it) that heals the old hurts and enables the child to move on. The process gives the child a feeling of control over events; through drawing they can make a different end to their story. When a child (or adult) has been overwhelmed by events and has felt totally powerless, it’s important for them to get back a sense of power in their lives. Then the old memory can be safely stored as something that happened in the past and is not still happening now, and can be forgotten if necessary.


1:1 sessions

These sessions include a range of different strategies depending on the child and their needs. Sometimes some protective behaviours learning is appropriate, at other times the children take part in ‘time to talk’. This is a safe space to talk about what is happening in their lives, some things that they may be finding tricky and some things that are going well. These discussions may be related to the following: changes in behaviour, self efficacy, confidence, transitions, bereavements or difficulties at home or school to name a few. These 1:1 sessions can be ongoing for as long as they are needed, for a fixed period of time or used as a drop in session for children who have previously had intensive support and need a top up from time to time. 

 

Play Therapy and Counselling

Our play therapist works with children across the school responding to their presenting needs.
She uses a range of therapeutic techniques including play therapy, talking therapy and problem solving depending on what works best for the child. Children are considered for these sessions for many different reasons depending on their personal circumstances. These may include difficult transitions in their lives, parental separations and bereavements. Along with the child, Jane creates and provides a safe and confidential space to help children explore difficult feelings such as anger, anxiety, grief and embarrassment, which may be having an impact on their friendships, self-esteem, behaviour and their ability to focus. When a child is identified as possibly benefitting from Counselling a referral form is completed. Then a meeting is held between parents/ carers and Jane and a consent form signed. The sessions are provided on an on-going basis as long as the child is engaging purposefully in the process. Parents/ carers are again consulted prior to sessions ending. 


Check in, check up and check out

Some children need the support of different adults throughout the day. We use a check in, check up and check out system for these children to spend some time away from their class environment and discuss their day with a trusted adult. This allows the children to raise any difficulties that they are having, as well as being able to celebrate the positive aspects of their day and share the success they have had. A child may be offered a check in, check up and check out card for times when they are finding an aspect of school or home life challenging. They may have this intervention for a short period of time, or this may be ongoing as needed and helpful to the child.