Mental Health Support Teams in Schools (MHST)

MHST structure

The MHST is a multi-disciplinary team comprising Senior Clinicians, Clinicians and Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP’s) who work directly with schools, parents, children and young people. EMHPs are trained to deliver evidence-based early-interventions, which includes Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Li-CBT).

Support offered:

MHST staff are trained to offer a range of interventions to support children and young people:

• low intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• sensory strategies
• mindfulness
• practical ideas
• creative problem solving
• thought challenging

What is low intensity CBT?

CBT involves the EMHP working with the individual to focus on their mental health concern, in particular their thoughts and feelings, and the impact it is having on them. The EMHP will work with the young person to develop a toolkit of practical strategies and coping mechanisms to help them deal with difficult situations when they arise.

CBT is a talking therapy, based upon the understanding that thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected. It suggests that negative thoughts and feelings can trap the individual in a cycle and helps to identify ways to break that cycle.

Information for schools

If your school would like more information on the MHST programme, please contact: lpt.llrmhstinfo@nhs.net 

How MHSTs will support your school (core offer)

We will deliver evidence-based interventions for mild-moderate mental health issues in one of the following ways:

• Individual face-to-face work: Low-intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (LI-CBT) interventions for children, young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health concerns based on up-to-date evidence.
• Group work: Both targeted and whole school group work tailored to identified need.
• Group parenting classes: Currently offered virtually.
• Whole school approach: Including staff training, whole school assemblies, workshops and being involved in health fairs
• Working alongside education settings to ensure safeguarding procedures around the MHST are aligned with your school’s existing systems and support your needs as a school.
• Sessions provided in education settings with the option for virtual contacts outside of term time. MHST will ensure adherence to appropriate Covid-secure measures to maintain the safety of all concerned.

We will also provide you with a welcome pack to support ongoing collaborative working, explain about the EMHP role, remit, and training requirements, and set out the support that the local MHST will be able to offer.

As a participating school, you will be required to:

• Identify a named member of senior staff to be the Mental Health Lead. They will liaise with our EMHPs to discuss either individual student or whole school concerns. They will play an important part within school in sharing best practice, lessons learned and supporting the involvement of colleagues such as the SENCO or the pastoral team. This individual must have sufficient capacity within their role to take on this responsibility.
• Involve children, young people, and their families/carers from the school community in the ongoing development of the MHST.
• Supporting with creating a tailored MHST Supporting with service evaluation and audits to continually improve the service offer.
• Identify appropriate accommodation that could be used for group work and individual interventions where these can best be carried out in a supportive way with minimal disruption.