Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision

Wellbeing and mental health

What is wellbeing and mental health?

Mental health refers to our emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel and act and affects how we cope, interact and form relationships with others, as well as our daily functioning.

  • Identification – what you may see in the child or young person

    • May present with physical symptoms that are medically unexplained , for example soiling, stomach pains.
    • May present a pattern of behaviour where they speak more freely at home/with familiar adults yet are more silent around most adults in school.
    • May struggle to attend certain lessons or school consistently.
    • When in school, may frequently not attend lessons, leave the classroom or avoid certain spaces or people.
    • Seeks to avoid difficult or stressful situations, for example playground, canteen, assembly.
    • Difficulty separating from parent or carer.
    • May have difficulty sleeping.
    • May appear to be fatigued.
    • Changes in personality or mood.
    • Emotional volatility including tearfulness, irritability, anger.
    • Poor academic attainment.
    • Difficulties forming and maintaining peer relationships.
    • Stops doing or enjoying the things they used to do or enjoy.
    • May appear isolated and alone or withdrawn. Avoiding interaction with others.
    • Emotional distress – externalising or disruptive behaviours that interfere with learning.
    • May have difficulties with certain aspects of the school day, for example coming into school in the morning, transition between lessons, playtimes.
    • May be feeling anxious or on edge.
    • May become easily annoyed or frustrated.
    • Obsessive behaviours or rituals.
    • May find it difficult to manage changes in their daily routine or environment. 

  • Planned provision in school

    Based on need, some of this provision will be effective.

    • Adults use different methods to better understand current mental health needs. This may include the NTW booklet formulation or ‘The 5Ps’ – problem or presentation, perpetuating factors, predisposing factors, precipitating factors, protective or positive factors. Use our 5Ps psychological formulation model to explore a child or young person’s situation. Support with this can be accessed through the Devon Educational Psychology Service.
    • Manage concerns around attendance using the ATTEND Framework as an early intervention tool to identify needs and manage the child or young person’s concerns around attending school. Additionally, develop an understanding around Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA), and provide resources so that the right support can be accessed at the right time. School Wellbeing cards can be used directly with the child or young person, to enable exploration of key risk factors, as well as strength and protective factors.
    • Personalised visual supports can be used to lower anxiety and support understanding of routines, for example timetables, Now and Next boards, calendars.
    • Managing change is explicitly taught to lower anxiety. Change or surprise cards on a visual timetable might be used, initially for changes which are positive for the child or young person. Provide time for the trusted adult to talk with the child or young person about how they are feeling and address the changes that will be taking place. This may be done through drawing or using visuals.
    • Clearly support any changes to routine when a teacher or key adult is away by being explicit about what is happening in advance, with as much notice as possible, whilst reassuring the child or young person they will still get support. Other familiar adults can be used to check in with the child or young person.
    • Prepare for planned events outside of the ‘normal’ timetable, to lower anxiety, by giving children and young people opportunities to rehearse and role play different situations.
    • Adults recognise and support both micro and macro transitions. The child or young person and their family are involved in identifying helpful strategies.
    • Support the child or young person to make sense of their moods and emotions. Mood cards could be used to help with this.
    • Incorporate systems to allow the child or young person to share their worries, for example through story books (Silly Billy, The Huge Bag of Worries, The Colour Monster), worry dolls, worry monster, worry box, worry diary, journal, sketch book.
    • Relaxation strategies are explicitly taught.
    • Explicit teaching of healthy coping strategies for secondary pupils.
    • Anxiety sorting cards can be used to help the child or young person focus on the different ways anxiety may present and how their anxiety looks and feels to them.
    • Support the child or young person to develop a range of strategies to respond to their fears and worries. Develop understanding around supporting anxiety by considering ways to support and consciously respond to the child or young person’s fears and anxiety.
    • Provide support to manage anxieties and increase self-esteem and self-confidence through apps such as Lumi Nova.
    • Opportunity for small group or individual outdoor learning experiences.
    • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Workbooks can be used to support primary and secondary aged pupils with managing anxiety (Primary, Secondary and beyond).
    • Use concrete tools to help the child or young person better understand anxiety and what is happening to them when they become anxious. Examples include The Thermometer Model, Firework Model and Five point scale (Primary (age 5-9), Secondary and beyond).
    • Cognitive behavioural approaches can be used to support the child or young person to overcome fears and worries.
    • Audit the sensory environment, reflecting on which sensory experiences may be contributing to an increase in the child or young person’s anxiety.
    • Make a step-by-step plan for tackling a situation or event that is worrying the child or young person. The Stepladder approach can be used to support this, starting with the least difficult thing to do on the bottom step of the ladder and building up to the most difficult thing on the top. Steps can be adjusted as necessary.
    • Support the child or young person to rate their levels of anxiety. Scaling can be used to support this, encouraging them to think about what might help to bring their anxiety down.
Devon County Council
Devon County Council, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter, Devon EX2 4QD
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