In This Section
Family Help & Mental Health Support
Support For Families
Family Help
Family Help is all about supporting families. It may be one child, one adult or the whole family who are impacted by a difficulty your family is facing. It may be you are worried about your child’s health, development or behaviour. It may be you are worried about money, your close personal relationships, housing or your own mental health, and this is having an effect on the family.
Family Help Meetings with schools and other professionals offer support that is personal to your family’s situation. For more information about Family Help and Support please visit:
https://nctrust.co.uk/support-for-children-and-families/
If you would like to consider gaining support via Family Help conversations (FHC) and Team Around the Family (TAF) meetings, please contact the school office via enquiries@mwps.thlt.academy and they will be able to put you in touch with the school’s pastoral lead, Caroline Lewis (Deputy Head Teacher).
Family Hubs
Family Hubs offer a safe, welcoming space for all families with children aged 0 to 19 years (or 25 years for a young person with a special educational need or disability). Family Hubs bring services together, making it easier for families to get the help they need - giving babies the best start for life and continuing that support through adolescence. Our nearest Family Hub is based at The Forum in Towcester and is open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. For more information visit:
Family Hubs | West Northamptonshire Council
NHFT iDiscover Children's Resource Hub
Here you will find information that may be useful to you and your family, both from local NHS services and more national information, that may give you the answers you are looking for:
https://www.nhft.nhs.uk/childrenshub
Support for Adults
Wellbeing Service
If you are a West Northamptonshire resident aged 18 or over, you could be eligible for up to 12 weeks of one-to-one support working with one of our Wellbeing Advisors to improve your quality of life:
https://www.westnorthants.gov.uk/wellbeing-service
NHS Northamptonshire Talking Therapies
If you are feeling low in mood, stressed or anxious, we will work with you to get you back on track. Our Talking Therapies support options includes our online tools, which you can use whenever and wherever works best for you:
https://www.nhft.nhs.uk/talkingtherapies/
Crisis Cafés
Run by a mental health professional and a MIND peer support worker, we provide support and safety to anyone in need by offering coping mechanisms and management techniques to help reduce the risk of crisis:
https://www.nhft.nhs.uk/crisis-cafe/venue/crisis-caf-northampton-410/
Samaritans
Whatever you're going through, a Samaritan will face it with you. Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Samaritans | Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy | Here to listen
Mind Northamptonshire
Mind in Towcester has the intention of enhancing the accessibility of mental health services in the Towcester area. They offer support groups, courses, counselling, training and drop-in sessions. They are committed to continuing to develop and expand their services to meet the needs of their community and provide essential mental health support to those who need it. For more information, visit:
Mind in Towcester | NorthamptonshireMind
Support for Children
Mental Health Support Teams (MHST)
We work closely with our local Mental Health Support Team (MHST): https://www.nhft.nhs.uk/mhst
MHST has been created to offer early intervention, low intensity, mental health support within schools for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health difficulties, through direct work with parents and children.
The MHST will also support the Mental Health Lead in each education setting to introduce and develop their Whole School Approach. The MHST will also offer support and advice to education setting staff to identify the most appropriate services for their need and help liaise with other appropriate services.
If you have any concerns regarding your child’s mental health or would like to consider gaining support from the MHST for your child, please contact the school via enquiries@mwps.thlt.academy and they will be able to put you in touch with the school’s mental health leads, Nicki Wilson (SENDCo) and Dan Cox (Head Teacher).
School Nursing (0-19) Team
The school nurse team work with children aged between 5 and 19 years old. They offer support with many different areas of child development including:
- Encouraging healthy lifestyle choices; healthy eating choices, supporting fussy eating/restricted diets, weight management
- Sleep hygiene, positive sleep routines, night waking/night terrors
- Continence and bedwetting
- Support with emotional wellbeing and emotional regulation
If you have any concerns regarding your child and would like to consider gaining support from the School Nursing Team, please contact the school via enquiries@mwps.thlt.academy and they will be able to put you in touch with the school’s SENDCo, Nicki Wilson who will be able to support you further.
Time2Talk Charity
Their emotional well-being drop-in services run weekly in Towcester at the Chantry House on Wednesdays from 4pm-8pm. The service will be available for those aged 8-25. For more information, visit:
Resources for Children
Below are a few resources that may help with supporting children:
Responding to Escalations parent pack