To hear from Rebecca Askew.

Rebecca Askew, Senior Specialist Educational Psychologist - Wellbeing, gave a presentation on mental health and wellbeing within schools. There was a rising prevalence of mental health difficulties, with one in eight children having mental health needs. There was also a rising level of suicide in under 25s. Over the past few years, a significant amount of progress had been made. There was more recognition that there was an overlap between mental health and physical illness. In RBWM, the universal offer of youth services had been reduced but were doing well in the family hubs. The team had seen an increase in the number of eating disorders and disordered eating, which was where a child could possibly be eating the same thing each day and therefore not getting a balanced diet. High numbers of referrals were happening for anxiety.

Looking at the national data, over 190,000 18 year olds were referred to children and young people’s mental health services between April 2021 and June 2021, this was an increase when compared to the previous year. An increase in 80% of young people had been referred to crisis care. Recently a survey had been undertaken on health and wellbeing, which had been run by Oxford University and was sent out to RBWM schools who could then help children fill it out. The data from this survey could be used to help develop plans and inform the local transformation plan. Questions covered things like bullying and access to services, it had been clear from the survey results that a number of children preferred not to access mental health services in a school setting and would use the internet after school instead. Of all the year groups, students from Years 11 and 12 seemed to be most affected during the first survey.

Rebecca Askew explained that she managed the Wellbeing team of therapists who could offer help and support to young people, the only requirement was that they attended a school in RBWM. Each wellbeing practitioner was linked to a school in the borough so they could offer advice and support on an ad-hoc basis. They also supported children and young people 1 to 1 and in small groups through the Early Help Hub and Social Care. The RBWM wellbeing team had been decreasing in size but referrals through early help had doubled during the past year. Waiting times for the ‘getting help’ team were favourable in RBWM compared to its other East Berkshire neighbours Slough and Bracknell. Mental health support teams were in place at 14 different schools across the borough which had been launched in September. Individual and group support, as well as peer mentoring, would be offered and the teams would be hosting whole school assemblies and embedding a whole school approach for mental health and wellbeing in each school.

Councillor Coppinger thanked Rebecca Askew for the presentation and asked for the presentation to be circulated after the meeting to the Forum.

ACTION – Mark Beeley to circulate presentation to the School Improvement Forum.

Councillor Del Campo commented on the loss of the universal offer and asked if those that were left were coming through the wellbeing services.

Rebecca Askew explained that the wellbeing team was separate to the family hub, she was specifically talking about the youth service which did not impact on other activities like summer programmes.

Councillor Del Campo made reference to a graph which had been shown as part of the presentation, where the number was 0. She asked if this meant that no treatment had taken place at this time.

Rebecca Askew said that during the lockdowns the data was not totally accurate but there were significant drops at these times.

Councillor Del Campo asked what the team needed from RBWM.

Rebecca Askew said that there was a huge amount of positive development which would take time to move through the system. Clear communication to parents and carers was important, so that young people knew where and how they could access services. Sports facilities and funding for these was very beneficial for wellbeing and mental health. Staff wellbeing was also something that should be focused on, teaching staff had worked hard over the course of the pandemic.

Councillor Coppinger handed the Chairman role back to Councillor Carroll.

The Chairman apologised for joining the meeting late but arrived at the start of the presentation. He said that the themes discussed in the presentation were a critical priority and supporting mental health, particularly with younger people. It was pleasing to see that the waiting times were lower compared to other areas, but these were still too high. The Chairman asked what was specifically needed to drive down the waiting times and what problems were occurring which meant that some had to wait longer than others.

Rebecca Askew said that there was a difficulty with staff leaving and employing new staff, this was a national problem. This was coupled with a huge increase in referrals. CAMHS were working on their wait list times and were looking at how young people could be supported whilst on a waiting list.

The Chairman asked for Rebecca Askew’s view on the health system and the education system working well together so that young people were being helped as much as possible to avoid disruption to their education.

Rebecca Askew said it was important to meet both educational and mental health needs. There had been an improvement in the connection between these two systems, things like the mental health support teams in schools would help to develop this link further.