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Mental Health Resource Hub

At Westminster Academy we pride ourselves on promoting positive change in young people’s mental health. We are aware that positive change may look different in each individual and we offer a range of support within the Academy through the following services:

  • Westminster Academy Student Counselling team - three BACP qualified Counsellors who can support students with a range of mental health issues
  • Hammersmith and Fulham Mind Mental Health Support team - an Educational Mental Health Practitioner who works with students with lower level poor mental health (low mood, anxiety, exam stress and emotional dysregulation to name a few)
  • Kooth - an online service where students can access one to one therapy through a chat service with a BACP qualified counsellor
  • The Mix Connect - a combination of online mental health support and an ambassador programme (see below)

Trauma Informed Approach

We are a ‘Think Trauma’ Silver Academy due to our commitment to considering student behaviour with a curious mindset. Our staff are training to think about ‘What must be going on for this young person?’ to explain behaviours that can sometimes be unexpected. We encourage the use of Zones of Regulation in every lesson to help students understand that feeling frustrated or upset is ok and there are self help strategies to get back on track. These are some of our guiding questions for discussions with those students:Zones of regulation 2

Silver wcc think trauma awards scheme email signature aw

 

Mental Health Ambassadors

We also are proud to introduce our Mental Health Ambassador team who will be working with the Designated Senior Mental Health lead to facilitate positive change in student mental health.

Support that can be accessed from home:

Parental support and information:

We encourage parents, carers and family members to talk openly with their young people about mental health and reassure them that experiencing mental health challenges is normal and there is lots of support available (see above list). Consider using Mindfulness and Zones of Regulation when supporting your young people with emotional difficulties.

If you as parents are suffering from poor mental health you could access Qwell, an online mental health service for adults, which includes a one to one chat service with BACP accredited counsellors and various articles to help support you as adults. You can also find helplines, guides and further information on the YoungMinds website here.

As always if you think there is an safeguarding issue please contact the safeguarding team on safeguarding@westminsteracademy.org.uk

If you or a young person feel like you are in imminent danger you can contact 999 in an emergency or 111 for non urgent advice.