Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing

Mental health and physical health are like two sides of the same coin - that's why we take emotional and mental wellbeing seriously at Southfields Academy.  In order to provide the education children deserve, we consider the whole child with the understanding that a student who is struggling emotionally cannot learn.

Our aim is to help children develop the protective factors which build resilience and promote good mental health. What does good mental health look like?

• The ability to learn
• The ability to feel and express a range of positive and negative emotions
• The ability to form and maintain good relationships
• The ability to cope with and manage change and uncertainty

Promoting good mental and emotional wellbeing is truly a group effort, with our pastoral ethos embedded throughout the school. And although students are encouraged to speak to any adult they like and trust, we also have multiple members of staff with special skills for supporting children, including those with counselling backgrounds, mindfulness, and cognitive coaching. And our mental health lead has her door open every day for break-time drop-in support.

Sometimes students request or require more structured help. In these instances, we have a range of visiting professional to help:

• Counsellors - Place2Be and independent practitioners provide a 6 to 12 week talking therapy model.
• Education Wellbeing Service - practitioners offer guided self-help for anxiety, low-mood, etc., as part of the NHS's Mental Health in Schools team for Wandsworth.
• Free2B - support for LGBTQI+ students and their allies.

Often, when a student is struggling, families need guidance or support as well. Our parent/carer liaison and on-site social worker are here for that purpose. Also, during lockdown we were inspired to produce a digital booklet full of information and resources concerning supporting and promoting good mental health for us all. You can view or download a copy by clicking here or by clicking the image to the right.

If you would like more information regarding support for your child or yourself, please contact your child's Head-of-Year, Tutor or our DSL for Mental Health Tricia Nearn. (tricia.nearn@southfieldsacademy.com)

 

Helplines & Support Organisations

 

Helpful organisations

We will post a list of helpful organisations here in the near future.  In the meantime Wandsworth Borough Council provides many useful resources and sources of help for parents on their Family Information Service website.