STUDENT WELLBEING SUPPORT AT CHAPELTOWN ACADEMY
Our mental health is an integral part of who we are. No two days are the same and you can experience changes to your mood and feelings when faced with new challenges or setbacks. When you’re not feeling the best, it can have a huge impact on your ability to do the things you need to do. Taking action to feel better can feel difficult or impossible. Here at Chapeltown Academy we are committed to offering support to help you get back on track.
There are lots of things we can do in our daily lives to look after our mental wellbeing and the British Medical Association have shown through research that taking action to support your wellbeing can have many benefits. Such as;
– Higher self esteem and confidence
– Improved quality of life
– Healthier behaviours
– Better understanding of your own health
If things are becoming difficult or you are facing new challenges that are proving hard, there are dedicated members of staff you can get in touch with to gain additional support. In the first instance your allocated tutor should be contacted. Further support can be requested from our wellbeing team at wellbeing@chapeltownacademy.com.
WELLBEING FOCUS
Social media can have a huge effect on our mental health and wellbeing. This isn’t always a negative effect, but it’s important to remain mindful and conscious of the implications of different platforms while we use them and be careful how often and intensely we engage with social media. If we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed by it, there are a few key things we can do to help create a safer and more gentle online environment. The guide and video below cover just a few ways we can help better our online environment.
SELF SUPPORT RESOURCES
There are lots of things you can do to help build your wellbeing and some of the resources below may be helpful in bettering your wellbeing.
Help Line to support Children and Young People’s Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health (for those aged 12-18 years)
Young people aged 12-18 living in Sheffield can now access support with issues such as low mood and anxious thoughts by calling
0808 275 8892 Monday to Sunday 9am-9pm
The helpline is run by wellbeing practitioners who are part of the Door 43 wellbeing service at Sheffield Futures and Sheffield Community and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) workers at Sheffield Children’s Foundation Trust.
The team can speak to young people who might be struggling with challenges such as exam stress, relationship issues, bullying or feelings of loneliness and isolation.
The service can also signpost young people to additional services if they require more long-term support.
The helpline is for young people who are not already accessing support for their mental health through other services, and it cannot support young people in crisis. As well as this service, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service continues to take referrals from GPs and other healthcare professionals, please seek further help if you need it.
If it is an emergency please call 999. All services are still here to support anyone who is in need.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress. This can be useful in mitigating stress and anxiety and there are numerous ways to approach mindfulness practice and build it into your day.
Mindfulness Guide
A great place to start in your mindfulness practice can be the use of colouring as a gentle, calming activity to distract us from our problems. Below are two free colouring resources to get you started.
Mindfulness Colouring 1
Mindfulness Colouring 2
CBT Workbooks
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a type of talking treatment which focuses on how your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes affect your feelings and behaviour, and teaches you coping skills for dealing with different problems. If you’re finding that you are overwhlemed and this is impacting on your wellbeing there are a number of self help workbooks which use these principles to help you work through your thoughts and problems.
Workbook: Dealing with your worries
Workbook: Enhancing resilience
Workbook: Problem solving
Workbook: Recovery programme for depression
Sleep Hygiene
Getting a good night’s sleep can have a huge and positive impact on our overall wellbeing and help make our daily lives easier and more productive. The guide below from The Sleep Council is full of tips and tricks to help get a restful night of sleep.
The Good Night Guide
Apps/Websites
Kooth – https://www.kooth.com
online wellbeing support community, offering resources and counselling to young people. Offers an app on iphone/android.
Stressheads – https://www.themix.org.uk/apps-and-tools/stressheads
Mental wellbeing themed stress busting game with signposting to specific support for anxiety/stress etc.
ThinkNinja – https://www.healios.org.uk/services/thinkninja
Online CBT based support to overcome setbacks and build emotional resilience, iphone/android apps.
Stem4–https://stem4.org.uk/
Support for teenage mental health, offers 3 apps for wellbeing support in;
Anxiety – https://www.clearfear.co.uk
Depression –https://www.movemood.co.uk
Self Harm –https://calmharm.co.uk
