Mental Health Support Team in Schools in Halton :: Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Service available in:

Who we are

Our Mental Health Support Team (MHST) provides direct mental health support to 45 primary and secondary schools in Halton. We have two teams in Halton - one for Widnes and another for Runcorn.

We promote the early detection and prevention of mental health problems, strengthen links with mental health services, providing direct, ongoing support around mental health and wellbeing across the whole school.

This includes:

Providing direct interventions to pupils with mild to moderate mental health conditions, such as anxiety, low mood or behavioural difficulties
Making onward referrals for pupils to local services, such as children and young mental health services (also know as CAMHS), when young people require specialist support
Providing training, education and advice to school staff to help them better support their pupils with mental and emotional wellbeing
Championing mental wellbeing and resilience across the whole school community, providing guidance around issues such as bullying and coping with exam stress.

The service sits alongside and complements any existing mental health support that schools have access to.

SCHOOL	Widnes or Runcorn
All Saints Upton C E Voluntary Controlled Primary	W
Ashley Special School	W
Astmoor Primary School	R
Blessed Carlo Acutis Catholic and CofE Academy (prev. St Chad’s)	R
Bridgewater Park Primary Academy	R
Brookfields Special School	W
Brookvale Primary School	R
Castle View Primary School	R
Chestnut Lodge School & Specialist SEN College	R
Ditton Primary School	W
Fairfield Primary School	W
Gorsewood Primary School	R
Halebank CE Voluntary Controlled Primary School	W
Hallwood Park Primary School	R
Halton Lodge Primary School	R
Kingsway Primary Academy formerly Simms Cross Primary School	W
Murdishaw West Community Primary School	R
Oakfield Community Primary School	W
Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy	R
Ormiston Chadwick Academy	W
Our Lady Mother of the Saviour Catholic Primary School	R
Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Catholic Primary School	W
Palace Fields Primary School	R
Runcorn All Saints CE Primary School	R
Saint Peters & Paul Catholic College	W
St Augustine's Primary Academy	R
St Basil's Catholic Primary School	W
St Edwards Catholic Primary School	R
St Gerard's Roman Catholic Primary & Nursery School	W
St Martin's Catholic Primary School	R
St Mary's Halton CE Primary School	R
St Michael with St Thomas CE Primary School	W
St Michael's Catholic Primary School	W
The Bridge School - Pupil Referral Unit	R
The Brow Community Primary School	R
The Grange Academy	R
The Heath School	R
The Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School	R
Victoria Road Primary School	R
Wade Deacon High School	W
Westfield Primary School	R
Weston Point Community Primary School	R
Widnes Academy	W
Windmill Hill Primary School	R
Woodside Primary School	R

Wave 11 From September 2024 – accepting referrals via school only as part of mobilisation and trainee year
Beechwood Primary School	R
Hale CE Voluntary Controlled Primary School	W
Hill View Primary School	R
Sandymoor Ormiston Academy	R
St Bede's Catholic Junior School (Note: not Infant school)	W
St Berteline's CE Primary School	R
St John Fisher Catholic Primary School	W

To find out who your school's MHST practitioner is, contact the Mental Health Support Team on 01925 664 120.

Email: mcn-tr.mhst-halton@nhs.net

MHST has now implemented a new consultation process therefore we no longer need a referral form to be completed. Please speak with the practitioner allocated to your school or contact the team. You will be asked to confirm the demographic information for the young person you are referring, and confirm that parental consent has been given.

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Name of Course	Course description	Who is this for/ How to book on	Course duration
Introduction to MHST	An introduction to MHST, who we are, what we offer and the interventions we provide. Guidance around consultation and referral process	Staff	Half a day course. Can be adapted to twilight session
What is Mental Health? An introduction	To gain knowledge around recognising the signs and symptoms of mental health issues in CYP	Staff	1 to 1½ hour
Anxiety Awareness	Classroom presentation covering signs, symptoms, causes and where to get support.	Pupils (primary and secondary) and staff	1 to 1½ hour
Transition support	Introduction to Sessions and accompanying materials Tips for managing your child’s transition Signposting for additional support	Pupils (primary and secondary), staff and parent/carer	1 to 1½ hour
Exam Stress	To gain an understanding on how to recognise and cope with stress from exams	Pupils (primary and secondary), staff and parent/carer Online workbook available as resource	1 to 1½ hour
Emotional regulation	To gain knowledge and understanding around recognising emotional dysregulation and tips on how to manage this.	Pupils (primary and secondary), staff and parent/carers	1 to 1½ hour
Emotional regulation and neurodiversity	To gain an understanding of emotional regulation and neurodiversity in children and young people. To explore strategies to support neurodiverse children and young people in school.	Staff	½ day course
MHST intervention awareness (bitesize training)	To gain more in-depth knowledge and understanding of the interventions that EMHPs deliver. The aim is to raise awareness of our interventions to aid schools in selecting appropriate cases to bring to consultation. -Anxiety interventions, Low mood, and challenging behaviour This is split across 2 30 minute sessions.	Staff	30 minutes per bitesize training (can be extended to aid more discussion between staff).