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FEATURE: WELLBEING


Causes of Mental Health Problems’, 2010) We need to rethink the context used around


mental health problems – they are not ‘illnesses’. Symptoms such as panic attacks, anxiety and depression are unconscious attempts to defend against unresolved emotional pain from traumatic life experience. Neurochemically, in response to this continuous, chronic unrelieved stress, the mind triggers high levels of stress hormones - cortisol and cortico-releasing factor (CRF) which block the pleasure chemicals - opioids and oxytocin. As a result, the individual’s perception becomes coloured with anxiety and/or hopelessness, self-blame, a relentless feeling of dread. We have all the research evidence we need


about recovery. We are just not using it. Emotional pain, the root of the problem – can be alleviated through a supportive relationship with an emotionally available adult, who helps you process what has happened. Of course, for some children and young people, some medication may be needed along the way – I’m not suggesting throwing the baby out with the bathwater – but if necessary this only needs to be a temporary measure whilst receiving relational intervention, not a prescription for life.


Myth: The only available option for children and young people to recover from mental health problems is to seek help from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) If this myth was true, we would be condemning the ever increasing number of children and young people experiencing mental health problems, to years if not a lifetime of ill-health. The pandemic, lockdowns and continuing


uncertainty about the ‘new normal’ has escalated the numbers seeking support – between 2020- 2021 there were over half a million referrals to CAMHS, and NHS statistics reveal that 37% of children on those waiting lists are yet to start treatment. Currently, approximately 60% of children and


young people are unable to access mental health services, with one third of referrals rejected after an extended time on the waiting list – for some up to two years. (House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, ‘Children and young people’s mental health’ Eighth Report of Session 2021–22 November 2021). CAMHS no longer has the capacity to provide


the support needed. Child psychotherapists within CAMHS, face an impossible task. Some have massive caseloads - over 80 patients. Diagnosis and medication, and risk assessments surrounding suicidal ideation are all that can be managed – there is no time left to schedule counselling or therapy. If CAMHS remains the only option, far too many children and young people are destined to endure escalating emotional pain and the dangers that poses with increasing self-harm or suicide. However, there is a simple way to support all


children and young people – by training front line community workers, teachers and school staff in core relational and psychological skills. Research shows that trauma informed, open


access community-based projects for young people, with workers trained in therapeutic


March 2022


relational skills, get similar results to CAMHS, without the wait time. Blossom Haus in Merseyside sees around 150 young people each week for group interventions. These young people feel valued and heard, they develop a sense of belonging and can process their painful life experiences with someone trained to listen and support. Their average wait time is 5 days. A 2018 national study by the British


Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy in partnership with Youth Access, observed that open-access services delivered “statistically significant reductions in psychological distress… that achieved clinical outcomes comparable to those reported in statutory mental health services in the United Kingdom.” (Duncan C, Rayment B, Kenrick J, Cooper M, ‘Counselling for young people and young adults in the voluntary and community sector: An overview of the demographic profile of clients and outcomes’, Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice, the British Psychological Society 2018).


Myth: There are not enough mental health workers for children and young people We do have enough child mental health workers; we have to recognise who they are. As Professor Sami Timimi, Child and Adolescent


Psychiatrist states, “I don’t think there is a shortage of psychological therapists anywhere in the mental health services. We are just not using them. If the object of the interactions I am having, is something to do with changing, affecting or influencing somebody’s mental state, whether I am using drugs, whether I’m using a conversation, whether I’m talking about strategies, whether I am just listening and that is the objective of that interaction, it IS psychotherapy.” [therapy that is psychological in nature]. “It is a ludicrous idea that there is a little group


of people that run psychotherapy services. Those of us involved in front line work have to get out of that mindset of thinking, that it isn’t our job to start engaging in thinking with people psychotherapeutically. This is not just an issue of funding or of staffing - it is the issue of how we think about what our task is.” * If the role of school staff is to develop the skills,


knowledge and understanding that our pupils need to be successful learners, then we also have to address the challenges they may face. We happily provide intervention for those struggling to read or grasp a maths concept, however if a child presents with behaviours that challenge, we often take punitive approaches which do not promote change, more likely, an escalation. In reality so many of these children are reacting to painful life events or adverse childhood experiences that they cannot process without the help of an empathic adult. We can make a difference. Research for the


Government Green Paper, ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’ (2017), states: “There is evidence that appropriately-trained and supported staff such as teachers... and teaching assistants can achieve results comparable to those achieved by trained therapists in... addressing mild to moderate mental health problems.” With far more school


www.education-today.co.uk 33


staff trained to be EEA’s, support could be easily accessed. We need to equip new teachers entering the


profession with the necessary core relational skills to support their pupils’ mental health. Sheffield Hallam University is the first in the UK to include initial training in a trauma informed approach in all their teacher training programmes. If other training institutions followed suit, teachers would be better equipped at building positive relationships and responding to their pupils’ emotional needs. Diploma awarded CPD is also provided by


Trauma Informed Schools UK (TISUK). The 11 day work-based training for school and community staff, develops core therapeutic and conversational skills – narrative competence, empathic listening and collaborative sense- making – proven to help children with mental health problems recover, with the support of a trusted relationship with the EEA, after all - “therapeutic relationships are a treatment in their own right.” (Hartley et al 2022).


Myth: Six sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or a course of anti-depressants will cure mental ill-health Recovery from trauma is never a quick fix - “You cannot think yourself to wellness” (Burkeman 2016), and antidepressants are not a cure for stress and anxiety, they just provide a numbing of emotional pain. The only way for children and young people to recover - meaning transformational long lasting change - from mental ill-health is through getting to the core of their emotional pain, talking about it and understanding it, and for that, they need the support of an EAA. Now is the time to use what we know, join up


our thinking and look at the research on the causes of mental ill-health and what aids recovery, otherwise the current utter misery from the lack of provision of support for thousands of children and young people in extreme distress will continue.


* Sami Timimi ( 2014) Wales Early Intervention Service Conference: Finding Meaning in Psychosis Conference Q&A session March 7th www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEKvn6dtCsk


uhttps://www.traumainformedschools.co.uk/


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