Helping your child understand their different emotions, and how to manage them, will be useful throughout their lives.
For some children and young people it can be difficult to manage and understand their feelings. Young people might experience a wide variety of difficulties including low mood, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, difficulty concentrating or might be avoiding school.
The School Health Team may support you and your child directly or refer you to another provider if appropriate.
Our team works closely with the Kent Children and Young People’s Mental Health Service.
We also offer the following services:
ChatHealth
ChatHealth is a text service for 11-19 year-olds. Young people can text with a member of our team about any physical or emotional health concerns they have. This service is available Monday to Friday, 9am on 07520 618850.
This service is confidential and anonymous.
Children and Young People's Counselling Service
The Children and Young People’s Counselling Service offers counselling to support the emotional health and wellbeing of children and young people aged four to 19. Accessing support to explore, manage and understand difficult feelings can be helpful.
Children and young people might show signs they are struggling and need more support including:
- nervousness or anxiety
- difficulty concentrating
- difficultly sleeping
- avoiding school or activities
- feeling low and not good about themselves
- loss of appetite, or sometimes increased appetite
- not wanting to be with friends or family.
We offer up to six counselling sessions to help a young person gain understanding and develop strategies to help them feel better. For primary school-aged children, we can offer the child six sessions with a counsellor, or if more appropriate, we can offer parents six weekly online sessions with advice on practical, easy to use strategies to support your child.
Supporting a child at home
Understanding your child are free online courses for anyone who is pregnant or caring for a child in Kent. These courses help you develop as a parent as your family grows. They are available in 15 to 20-minute chunks, perfect for busy parents and carers.
- Understanding pregnancy, labour, birth and your baby - for anyone who is expecting a baby including friends and family. There is a course for female same-sex couples too.
- Understanding your baby - for anyone caring for a baby from birth to six-months-old. There are courses for parents caring for a preterm or sick baby in hospital.
- Understanding your child from toddler to teenager - for anyone caring for a child from six months to 19 years plus.
- Understanding your child with additional needs.
- Understanding your child's feelings (a taster course)
- Understanding your child's mental health and wellbeing.
- Understanding your teenager's brain - for anyone caring for a teenager in Kent and one for teenagers themselves.
- Understanding your relationships
To access your free course go to https://inourplace.co.uk/ and register for an account with the access code 'Invicta'.
Families can also access three online courses on coping with stress, communicating better wherever you are in your parenting journey and whether you are in a relationship or separated.
- Arguing better - how to approach disagreements.
- Me, you and baby too - how to navigate the changes that happen in a relationship when a new baby arrives.
- Getting it right for children - how to minimise conflict and the impact it can have on your children when you are separating or have split up.
Visit www.oneplusone.org.uk, select Kent as your area and set up an account with a username and password.
If these courses raise any concerns please contact your local Health Visiting Team or School Health Team for more support.
- The Kent Resilience Hub is aimed at parents of children aged between 10 and 16. It has a range of helpful articles, tools and resources for parents and carers, so that you can increase understanding and find tools and approaches to help build your child’s resilience.
- Good Mental Health Matters is another site that provides great resources to help parents support their whole families emotional health.
Resources for children and young people:
- Health for Teens provides health information and advice directly to young people.
- Kooth is a fantastic free online mental health and wellbeing service for young people aged 10 to 25. It’s a place to get advice, information and support 24/7. Watch their video to understand how Kooth can support your child with their mental health and wellbeing.
- Access Moodspark.org.uk to learn about mental health and find tips and resources to keep emotionally healthy.
- Good Health Matters is a great website which can help support a child or young person to make small changes to support their mental health.
You can find all the plans to transform services for children, young people and young adults’ emotional wellbeing and mental health at the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Service website.