Can schools do more to support pupils with mental health problems? A York mother whose son threatened to kill himself in the playground shares her story...

PENNY'S son had struggled throughout primary and secondary school. Penny had adopted Danny before his fifth birthday – but even at that tender age there were scars from his chaotic early years.

"He came from a background of chronic trauma and neglect," says Penny. Despite years of counselling and the love of a new family, Danny found it difficult to cope at school.

"He exhibited extreme behaviour: he was aggressive, would lash out at people, jump on desks."

Luckily, Danny had help: a regular therapist, provided through an adoption charity, and the support of an understanding primary school. But that all changed when he moved up to secondary school.

"The primary school setting is more nurturing. They were really good with him," said Penny. He had an education health care plan and had a teaching assistant with him throughout the day.

"I was very worried about him moving up to secondary school because it was a bit more of a sausage factory with pressure on everybody to get good results. Also I was worried about the impact of asking a child who is chaotic to sit in a classroom all day."

Sadly, Penny's worries were to be realised. One day last spring, the school rang to tell her that they had to coax Danny down from a high wall one break time – he was threatening to kill himself.

Shock gave way to relief that Danny was OK – but soon led to heartbreaking soul searching. "I just thought of all the hard work we'd put in over the years – from therapists to supportive grandparents, and he still wanted to commit suicide," says Penny.

Looking back, there had been signs that Danny's mood was getting worse, admits Penny. "Feedback from the therapist was that he was talking about very dark things and had a bit of an obsession with death. But I didn't think about suicide. I thought: 'he's not going to do this to me'. But this wasn't about me: this was about his feelings."

Penny and Danny had a good relationship. She worked hard at keeping communication channels open with him – not always easy with a teenager, but harder still with one struggling with their mental health. It was from these chats that she later found out that Danny had tried to smother himself in bed and tried to cut himself.

Penny had been in contact with the school about getting them to do more to support Danny and other pupils struggling with their mental health, with mixed results.

But after the wall incident, Penny said the school made some changes in how it supported children like her son.

"It was a bit of a breakthrough. We got support from a charity to come in and talk to the school about mental health problems and the school started training teachers about how to cope with children suffering from attachment problems and trauma."

The root of Danny's problems lay in his early years, says Penny, and he has struggled with attachment. These same problems surface in other children too, she says, often in young people who have been adopted, or who have an unstable, broken or chaotic home life or who have been bereaved.

Penny says it manifests itself in various ways including a difficulty in making and keeping friends, a mistrust of adults, messing around in class and hitting out. "Or it can go the other way and children can be so quiet so that nobody notices them; they want to be ignored."

Without the right training, teachers can make matters worse, believes Penny, by punishing children rather than helping them.

"Danny would get lots of negatives, isolation and detention. Why respond to his difficulties with disciplinary procedures when what was needed was the softly, softly approach?" Some schools, she says, offer yoga classes rather than detention.

Penny says Danny is doing better now – and she is glad she kept badgering the school to do more to support him and other kids struggling.

She says: "Find somebody at school with a sympathetic ear and work on them. I found someone who had some understanding and I worked on that."

And if other parents are worried about their teenager her best advice is to keep talking. "Keep communication channels open. That is not easy when nothing is forthcoming. I always found talking in the car worked – when I was giving Danny a lift back from somewhere. They are next to you, but there is no eye contact, so it's a good time to ask some gentle questions and see what comes back."

And if you are really worried, says Penny, make an appointment with the family doctor. "See your GP, they can run tests for depression."

And if outside help is needed, she adds, the right help can be signposted for parents and pupils.

(Names have been changed to protect identities)

What schools are doing to help...

ONE in ten young people have a diagnosable mental health need, according to the Government. Locally, the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) – the GP consortium which purchases health care in our area – has set out ambitions plans to improve mental health among children and young people.

A priority is to increase the confidence and competence of educational staff to identify emerging mental health needs, and to improve access to support to build children and young people’s emotional resilience and so reduce the likelihood of escalating mental health issues.

City of York Council has an established School Wellbeing Service to identify and support children and young people showing emerging mental health needs.

Jon Stonehouse, corporate director of children, education and communities at City of York Council, says every cluster of schools has access to a Wellbeing Worker who has clinical supervision from the city’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

The service has also recently commissioned training for mental health champions in secondary schools to promote peer support for young people.

It is also offering training to every school in York to help children and young people understand how their brains are developing, and to provide practical strategies to support their emotional resilience.

Mr Stonehouse adds that schools across York are training teaching assistants to become Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs). ELSAs offer early intervention support to individuals or small groups of children with social and emotional needs arising from early attachment and trauma, bereavement, anxiety, friendship issues etc. The ELSAs liaise with Wellbeing Workers and educational psychologists if these needs escalate.

Mr Stonehouse advises any parent or carer who is worried about their child's mental health to raise their concerns with a member of staff or one of the school’s pastoral team, who have access to a School Wellbeing Worker.

He adds that information for parents is available online at: yor-ok.org.uk/sws.htm and also at: https://bit.ly/2MxyAxX.

Also, parents, carers and professionals can contact CAMHS’ single point of access for advice if they have concerns around mental health, and clinical advice can be requested by calling 01904 615345.

Young people aged 16 years and over can access advice and counselling services at 30 Clarence Street or online at: yor-ok.org.uk/young-people/30clarencest.

York MIND offers a range of support activities and events for young people: yorkmind.org.uk.