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The Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams (WEST) in schools service is designed to help children and young people aged 5-18 years access mental health and wellbeing support early on in educational settings.
It's all about ensuring children and young people can get access to the right help as early as possible.
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 who may be feeling worried, anxious or low.
Our job is to support you early, before things feel too big or too hard to manage, and to make sure you get the right help as soon as possible.
We offer short‑term support, usually over a few weeks or months. You might meet with a wellbeing practitioner or a senior practitioner, or sometimes another member of our team. We all work together to help you feel better.
We often use something called CBT, which is a type of talking therapy. It helps you understand your thoughts and feelings, and teaches you new ways to cope when you’re finding things difficult.
CBT can help if you have feelings such as:
We can meet with you in person at school or online. Most of the time we meet one‑to‑one, but we can also run group sessions, and sometimes your family might join if that would help you.
If you need more support than our team can give, we will help you find another service that can give you the right help.
We are an early help service, which means we support you before things get too big or overwhelming. But we cannot give urgent or crisis help.
If you are in crisis or feel unsafe, you need to get urgent support. Find out who to contact here: Urgent help and support in an emergency | Children, Young People and Families
We work with 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 colleges:
We also run online workshops for parents. Your school or college can tell you more if you would like to know about these.
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.
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.
Want to learn more about the Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams in Schools (WEST)? Our primary school playlist features short, animated videos with a WEST practitioner explaining topics such as who we are, how we can help, and what children, families and schools can expect from the service.
Discover how the Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams in Schools (WEST) support young people. This playlist combines animation and expert guidance from a WEST practitioner to explain key topics, including what WEST does, the role of a Wellbeing Practitioner, and how students can access support.
If you require any of the above resources in an alternative format please get in touch with your schools WEST team.
If you need help with how you or someone you care about is feeling, you can look at the advice section on our website. You can also talk to the team who is supporting you.
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:
Wellbeing and Emotional Support Teams (WEST) work in schools and colleges to help children and young people aged 5 to 18 with mild to medium mental health worries.
The schools, colleges and sixth forms we work with are:
Schools and sixth forms
Colleges
Schools and sixth forms
Colleges
Schools and sixth forms
Colleges
Schools and sixth forms
Colleges
Schools and sixth forms
Colleges