Kingsway Park High School and Oulder Hill set to improve mental health services for young people

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Two schools in Rochdale, Kingsway Park High School and Oulder Hill are offering pupil and their families and  staff highly specialist consultation, training and mental health support from Nurture Psychology Service over the next 12 months.

The service will include delivering training on attachment and developmental trauma to whole staff team. It will offer schools an in-depth, holistic understanding of the school environment, family circumstances, the child’s mental health and developmental history and how all these factors can impact on their behaviour and ability to learn.

This specialised service will be led by clinical psychologist Dr kirsty Hughes and Dr Louise Mansell.

Dr Mansell said:  “Working with schools in this way is an absolute pleasure and we can see the impact at a whole school level, which is great. We are assessing impact and effectiveness and collecting feedback from staff and young people. We hope these schools can influence others to follow their lead.

"School support and intervention are often offered to young people with the best intentions, but it is like constructing a building without the blue print  and without an architect directing the design of the building. This is how we see the role of clinical psychologists skills in understanding young people.

"Schools offer a lot of support to young people, but it is often not based on an understanding of their needs, more of a fix all solution. Having clinical psychologist allows interventions to be offered based on an in-depth informed understanding of their life, circumstances and history.”