The Fylde Coast Mental Health Support Team (MHST) is a new service to support children, young people and their families in achieving good mental health and wellbeing.

Funding has been received to establish two Mental Health Support Teams – one which will cover education settings in Blackpool and one which will cover education settings in Wyre (secondary schools, special schools, pupil referral units and students under 19 at Blackpool and the Fylde College).

In the first year, whilst our Education Mental Health Practitioners (EHMPs) are completing their training, the teams will work with a smaller number of participating schools. In Year 2 (2022 – 23), the number of students and schools able to access support from the MHST will increase – if you would like further information about this please get in touch.

How can we help?

• We will talk to children and young people and/or their parent or carer about what they are finding difficult
• We might work with children and young people directly or with their parent or carer to help their child feel better
• We might put children and young people or their parent or carer in touch with other professionals who can support them
• We might give advice to staff at a school or college to help children and young people get the right support and stay in education.

What can we help with?

Anxiety and Worry

Anxiety is a word we use to describe feelings of worry, fear, and panic. As well as emotions and feelings, children and young people might:

• Experience physical (body) sensations such as a racing heart, breathing fast, sweaty hands, dry mouth and feeling shaky.
• Have “what if” or negative thoughts pop into their head. It’s normal to feel anxious when in a dangerous situation but it can become a problem if they feel worried all the time or if these feelings begin to get in the way of them doing things they enjoy. This can be a sign that they may need some extra support.

Low mood

Children and young people with low mood might:

• Feel down, very sad or numb for a long period of time
• Feel like this because they are going through a hard time at school or at home
• Feel low without any obvious reason, feeling sad, stressed, hopeless, lonely, angry or empty
• Feel bad about themselves, others or the world
• Find it hard to look after themselves or struggle to concentrate at school or college

The good news is that we have tools to support them and help them to feel better.