About us
We support schools in West Sussex with all aspects of mental health and emotional wellbeing.
We support schools in 3 ways
- We support the senior mental health lead (SMHL) in each education setting to introduce or develop their whole school approaches to mental health and emotional wellbeing.
- We provide one to one evidence-based interventions in schools for mild to moderate mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
- We give advice to school staff and liaise with external specialist services, to help children and young people to get the right support and stay in education.
Thought-Full is part of a national programme called Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) in schools.
The government set out this approach in a green paper to improve mental health support for children and young people. The plan focuses on different services working together, such as schools, health services, social care and community groups as set out in Future in Mind and The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health. The aim is to put children and young people at the centre of mental health support.
Schools are a great place to support children’s mental health and wellbeing. By offering mental health support in schools, more children and families can get help more easily and fairly.
Children and young people who struggle with mental health are more likely to have difficult experiences early in life. These problems can affect them as they grow into adults.
Many mental health problems start at a young age. Half begin before age 14, and most begin before age 24. Early support can stop problems from getting worse and can help children do better in the future.
Many children also need support for worries or low mood that are not serious enough to need specialist services. MHSTs support these children by offering gentle help for mild or moderate issues, such as low mood, anxiety, or behaviour difficulties.
In West Sussex, we have funding for just over 10 teams across the county. These teams have been set up in stages since 2019. We choose where teams work based on where the need is greatest. Each team supports around 8,000 pupils in primary, secondary, special, and alternative education settings.
To get support, speak to the senior mental health lead in your school or email thought full@westsussex.gov.uk.
Thought-Full is not an emergency service. If you feel you need urgent support contact the Sussex Mental Health on 0800 0309500 (available 24 hours, 7 days a week). If you or your child are at immediate risk of harm or require medical attention phone 999 or visit your nearest local accident and emergency department.
One-to-one, targeted support
As part of core function 2, we offer short-term (4 to 10 sessions) interventions for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate difficulties. Complete our online form if you would like to request support. The perspective of the child is crucial to the referral. You can use the ‘Child's Voice’ document linked in the further information and resources section below to help you do this.
Our interventions are based on cognitive (managing difficult thoughts and the behaviours they lead to) or behavioural ideas (considering changes to behaviours that may keep the difficulty going such as avoidance or withdrawal) and can be delivered one-to-one or in groups.
These interventions rely on a collaborative, goals-based approach. It is therefore important that the young person acknowledges they have a difficulty, and that they are motivated to talk about and work on this.
Thought-Full can support children and young people with:
- low mood
- low self-esteem
- anxiety (including social anxiety, separation anxiety,
- generalised anxiety/worry, specific phobias) - excluding needle and blood phobia, OCD and PTSD
- emotional regulation
- sleep difficulties
- common behavioural difficulties (primary age)
- voice hearing (secondary age)