Mental Health Support Team

Early support, right here at Arden

Supporting children's mental health and emotional wellbeing is an important part of our approach at Arden. Alongside the support provided every day by our staff, pastoral and inclusion teams, we are proud to work in partnership with the Stockport Mental Health Support Team (MHST).

Our link practitioner is Olivia Tumini, Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP), who works in school every week. This means specialist mental health expertise is part of our regular school provision and enables us to work together to identify concerns early and provide the right support at the right time.

The Stockport MHST supports children and young people aged 5–18 who are experiencing mild-to-moderate mental health difficulties, including anxiety, low mood, worry and other difficulties affecting their wellbeing.

The service is run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with Beacon and works directly with schools and colleges across Stockport. Arden is one of the primary schools covered by Pennine Care practitioners.

Click here to visit the website of the Stockport Mental Health Support Team – Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Olivia Tumini is our Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP).

Olivia works at Arden every week, alongside our pastoral, inclusion and safeguarding teams. Having a regular practitioner in school helps us build a joined-up approach to children's mental health and wellbeing, rather than waiting until difficulties have become more significant.

An EMHP is trained to provide evidence-based early support for children and young people experiencing common mental health and emotional wellbeing difficulties.

The support offered will depend upon the needs of the individual child and family.

The MHST can provide one-to-one or group support for children, parents and carers, as well as advice, guidance and signposting to other appropriate services. The team also works with schools to strengthen approaches to pupil and staff wellbeing.

Support might be appropriate where a child is experiencing difficulties such as worry, anxiety or low mood which are beginning to affect their everyday life. The team considers each child's needs to ensure that the support offered is appropriate.

Sometimes the most effective way to help a child is to work alongside the adults supporting them.

The MHST can work directly with parents and carers, helping them to understand their child's difficulties and develop strategies to respond to them.

This means support does not always have to involve a child attending individual sessions. The approach is matched to the needs of the child and family.

Families do not need to contact the MHST themselves to make a referral.

If you are worried about your child's emotional wellbeing or mental health, please speak to your child's teacher or a member of our pastoral or inclusion team. We can talk through your concerns with you and consider what support may be most appropriate.

Where MHST involvement may be helpful, referrals are made through school.

The MHST operates throughout the year, including during school holidays

The MHST provides early intervention for mild-to-moderate difficulties. It is not a replacement for specialist mental health services.

Where a child's needs require a different or more specialist level of support, the team can provide advice, guidance and signposting to other appropriate services.

You don't need to wait until things become difficult to talk to us.

If something is affecting your child's wellbeing, please get in touch. Early conversations can make a big difference.