Gathering children and young people’s views on their ideal service

Posted on by babssimons

Highland Council Psychological Service regularly gathers feedback from stakeholders as part of their self-evaluation processes. Pupil focus groups were facilitated by members of the Psychological Service, to gather primary and secondary school children and young people’s views – to help inform and shape future service delivery. Eight focus groups were carried out face-to-face in schools and a youth group setting.

Children and Young People Infographics

Secondary School

Primary School

Click here to find out more about the project, summary, key questions, and to access the full report.

NEW ARMED FORCES FAMILIES HIGHLAND WEBSITE

Posted on by babssimons

Launch of NEW ARMED FORCES FAMILIES HIGHLAND WEBSITE along with a quick and fast access QR code for mobile users.

This website aims to provide easy navigation, key information, helpful resources and learning materials all at the click of a button for our Armed Forces Families, their Children and Young People and the Education Practitioners who work with them. We’ve had some great feedback already, “It is well laid out, easy to navigate and provides all the information required” ….  “This is a brilliant resource – intuitive and engaging” … “The website is fantastic – what an amazing resource”.

The Military Liaison Group (Education) is a Highland partnership that is committed to ensure that all Children and Young People from Armed Forces families thrive in Highland and suffer no disadvantage in their education due to being from a military family whether Serving, Reservist or Veteran.

We hope you enjoy exploring the website and there is an option to ‘subscribe’ – a great way to keep up to date with new information and resources that we post.

SAVE THIS WEBSITE:

https://armedforcesfamilieshighland.wordpress.com/

SAVE THIS QR CODE for mobile users:

Please PRINT, SHARE and DISPLAY this FLYER to support the launch

highland-armed-forces-families-website-flyer-for-launchDownload

A Wellbeing Evaluation Tool… the next chapter

Posted on by babssimons

As a follow up to our infographic detailing our journey so far in ‘Co-producing a Mental Health and Wellbeing Evaluation Tool with Children & Young People’ we thought you may be interested to find out more. Today we are sharing a short video detailing some of what our C&YP across Highland have told us about what SHANARRI really looks, sounds and feels like to them, and also what they think it should look like in their schools.

This video is part of a suite of resources that will sit alongside our completed wellbeing self-evaluation tool, and it can be used to introduce the survey to the C&YP before they complete it. If you are in a school and are interested in getting involved, or using the self-evaluation tool please get in touch with jo.chamberlain@highland.gov.uk

Your ‘SHANARRI’ School video link

An exploration around peer support for secondary pupils in Scotland with experience of self-harm

Posted on by babssimons

This paper (written by Victoria Shepherd, an Educational Psychologist working in Highland) shares research carried out within Scotland exploring peer support for secondary pupils with experience of self-harm. It is widely suggested that friends are a main source of support for young people who self-harm, yet limited research explores specific supports offered by friends, or any help required to provide successful support. Qualitative data were gathered from secondary pupils via semi-structured interviews. Findings indicated that friends provide support by being directly there for young people, providing distractions and taking responsibility. Friends could consider young people’s perspectives more, initiate conversations about self-harm and spend more time with young people. Supportive friends speak to others for reassurance and would like additional people to provide support. Implications for practice included highlighting support provided by friends, normalising the term ‘self-harm’ and providing peer support training for friends.

Worries and anxieties ~ information for families and schools

Posted on by babssimons

At the end of 2019, as part of ongoing discussions about helping families to support pupils, Millburn Academy staff asked for information for the school website about supporting young people experiencing anxiety. Emma Campbell, Primary Mental Health Worker (PMHW) and Team Lead for the PMHW service, was doing some similar systemic work for Fortrose Academy. We decided to work together with Kirsty Jarvie, Children Services Worker (CSW), to make a resource that could be linked to school websites and easily shared as an early intervention. Having a mental health resource that is easy to share and access is especially important in a mostly rural area like Highland.

Use this link to access information on worries and anxieties.

We hope this information is useful. Please let us know by using the comments if you have any feedback or ideas for improvement or further development.