Partner Article

Mental Health of Our Children is a Real Issue And Goes Well Beyond Social Media

• Lancashire social enterprise Aspire Behaviour Management is encouraging parents as well as professionals working in education and health to attend a conference in Bolton next month to find out about techniques to improve children’s mental health and resilience.

• Aspire Behaviour Management works intensively with primary and secondary school children, their schools and families to help prevent school exclusions and improve life chances.

• Aspire’s ‘Developing Emotional Resilience and Improving Mental Health in the classroom’ event takes place at The Bolton Arena on March 15

Burnley-based Aspire Behaviour Management says it can be easy for parents to get caught up in the latest scare story which tells them how to spot dangers such as those on social media, when what they need is to be provided with the practical tools to know how to help their child and protect them from emotional damage and harm.

Aspire Behaviour Management works intensively with primary and secondary school children, their schools and families to help prevent school exclusions and improve life chances. This year the conference will be taking place at Bolton Arena on March 15 - so that professionals can attend and learn more about techniques to improve their children’s mental health and emotional resilience.

A report published last month by the government’s Health and Social Care Committee says that thousands of children are missing out on mental health support. At least one in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health condition and those most in need of support – including children at risk or who have been excluded – are particularly vulnerable.

Director Gill Bullock says that all too often parents don’t know where to turn and what specialist support is available.

This was certainly true for the Faulkner family. Stacey and her son Kalel moved from St Annes to Colne in 2016 - part of the reason for the move was because Kalel had received a fixed exclusion from his primary school. The first day at his new primary school Stacey was advised that her son’s behaviour meant he needed specialist support beyond what the school could provide. They made a referral to Aspire who worked intensively with the school and the family for 16 months until a permanent solution could be found.

Says Stacey: “Parents like me have no idea what to do or to ask for. He had every type of behaviour - spitting, being no compliant, screaming. Everything you can think of really. At Kalel’s previous school we had gone through months of hell without being referred anywhere. But at his new school the fact they knew he needed specialist support made all the difference to our lives.”

Part of the problem for the family was that he came to his new school with no completed paperwork about his behaviour and support needs – which meant he lacked the available evidence for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Kalel, now seven, was eventually diagnosed as autistic and the behaviour problems had been because regular school was simply too overwhelming for him. He now attends Cribden House in Rawtenstall. “He’s come out of his shell, he’s so much happier now,” says Stacey.

Aspire Behaviour Management was founded in 2014 by Directors and Founders Gill Bullock and Danny Maher. Gill has over 30 years’ experience working with vulnerable children and their families. Her understanding also comes from personal experience – Gill has a daughter with dyslexia and a son who was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of four. Danny has 18 years experience working with children, families, communities and schools. Danny worked across varying different roles with Youth Offenders, Primary and Secondary Schools and behaviour support.

Aspire’s annual conference will highlight interventions that can make a difference and include speakers and workshops from child psychologists, Nurture UK, Bolton Wanderers Community Trust and more.

Says Gill: “Children who need mental health support or other supported interventions will very rarely have just one thing going on in their lives. There are often a whole range of challenges that we need to work with and that involves working with the family as well as the school. We think it’s important parents and families as well as teachers and professionals know some of the latest techniques and thinking.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Raynard .