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Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams in Schools (WEST)

  • We are the Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams (WEST). We work in schools and colleges to help children and young people with mild to medium mental health worries. 

About our service

We are the Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams (WEST). We work in schools and colleges to help children and young people aged 5 to 18 with mild to medium mental health worries. We support you early, before problems grow or feel too big and make sure you get the right help as soon as possible.

How we support you

We offer short-term support, normally over a few weeks or months. You will probably meet with a wellbeing practitioner or a senior practitioner. But it could be a different member of our team too. We all work together to support you.

We often use CBT, which is a type of talking therapy. CBT helps you understand your worries and feelings, and learn new ways to cope with them. It can help if you have feelings of: 

  • Low mood
  • Anxiety
  • Behaviour worries

We can meet you face to face or online. We usually meet 1 to 1 but we can run group sessions too. Sometimes these might include your family.

Sometimes you may need more help that our team can provide. If this happens, we can help you access another service. 

Important to know  

WEST is an early help service. We do not give urgent crisis help.  

If you are in crisis, get urgent support. If you have strong thoughts about harming yourself, get help straight away: Urgent help and support in an emergency | Children, Young People and Families

Our work in schools and colleges

We work many schools and colleges. These include primary, middle, and secondary schools, sixth forms and colleges.  Our staff sometimes lead assemblies and give talks about wellbeing and resilience. We support schools with mental health work too.

We help schools and colleagues:

  • Spot needs early
  • Share the right advice
  • Use proven support

We also run online workshops for parents. Your school or college can tell you more if you would like to know about these.

How to access the service

If you need support from our team, talk to your school’s Mental Health Lead. You can also ask any member of school staff to help you make a referral.

Parents and carers can also refer their child. They should speak to the school’s Mental Health Lead to find out how to do this.

Sixth form and college self-referral  

If you are in Year 12 or Year 13 and go to one of the schools or colleges we work with, you can refer yourself. You can do this privately by filling in the form below. If you need help completing it, speak to your Mental Health Lead.

How we manage your information

Keeping information private is very important to our teams. We only share information to keep you or a loved one safe.

Find out more using the links below: