With Me in Mind is the name of one of the national Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) and there are teams based in both Doncaster and Rotherham. Our service was identified following the release of the Government Green Paper (2017), “Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health” in which there was a focus on earlier intervention and prevention, especially in, and linked to schools and colleges. One of the core proposals from the paper was to fund new Mental Health Support Teams, which are predominantly being supervised by NHS Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services as well as local charity/private services.

We are committed to ensuring that the Mental Health Support Teams reach those most in need of the support; this includes our students here at Demeter House Hestia School.

So far WMIM have helped develop both our staff and student voices in school, they are helping create the school council and working on 1-1 basis with students that need it.

Aims, Service and Purpose
With Me in Mind is an education based service focusing on early intervention and prevention for children aged 4-19. The service is built upon the green paper, ‘Transforming Mental Health for Children and Young People’ and is underpinned by three core functions:
  1. To provide evidence-based interventions for children with mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
  2. To work in partnership with the schools identified mental health lead and develop the whole school approach to mental health. This may include group sessions, workshops, assemblies, staff training, parent workshops, personal, health and social education (PHSE) support and much more.
  3. To give timely advice and consultation to schools and colleges including home educated students about individual children’s emotional health and from this we signpost to appropriate services to ensure that young people get the right support.
The team is made of a Clinical Lead, Team Leader, Senior Mental Health Practitioners, Whole School Approach Lead, Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Therapist and Support Workers.
Through consultation with the Senior Mental Health Practitioner (Kate Marshall), the service can also help children and young people with more complex and/or severe needs to access the right support and provide a link to specialist NHS services, including CAMHS.
With Me in Mind offers support around low level and emerging mental health problems.
The aim is to address any problems as early as possible, working towards stopping problems becoming more serious and engrained. These include:
  • Low mood
  • Worry
  • Anxiety
  • Simple phobias
  • Sleep problems
  • Panic attacks
  • Behavioural and emotional problems
They can also help to educate students around:
  • Resilience and assertiveness
  • Managing exam stress
  • Transitions
  • Guided self-help