Supporting young people to have brighter days filled with hope, opportunity and empathy.

Brighter Futures Together have just launched a peer support group for parents/carers of young people aged 11 to 25 who are experiencing mental health difficulties.

Please visit their website to find out more:

This May Help is a new national initiative providing mental health advice to parents and carers launched by Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership. This May Help is aimed at parents and carers who may have concerns about their child’s mental health and is part funded by the Quality Improvement Taskforce for Children and Young People’s Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Inpatient Services.

The website gives easy-to-follow advice to help families manage their child’s mental health. This advice was developed by NHS professionals and parents who’ve been through their own child’s mental health journey. Parents and carers have shared advice that helped them and that may also help other families.

Professionals who work with children are also being encouraged to use the website.

The advice covered on This May Help includes: self-harm, gaming and online activity, teenagers safety, eating disorders, school avoidance, understanding mental health, understanding teenagers, online threats, building rapport, building resilience, building a support network, self-care tips, managing an emergency, managing in a crisis, and preparing for a children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) appointment. These subjects were chosen by families and young people who have gone through their own mental health.

Questions to help parents and carers choose out-of-school settings

When looking for after-school clubs, theatre groups or sports’ clubs, the DfE has a document that helps parents identify the safeguarding issues to consider when choosing a provider. 

Keeping children safe during community activities, after-school clubs and tuition: Questions to help parents and carers choose out-of-school settings.

Parents can access the guidance here:

www.childline.org.uk
Contact: 0800 1111

You can contact Childline about anything.  Whatever your worry, it’s better out than in.  Childline are there to support you and help you find ways to cope.

You can call them, chat online or email them.

A team of Child Wellbeing Practitioners based within Bracknell Forest Council working under the CAMHS Getting Help Service, here to help you directly or put you in touch with people who can support you further.

Brakenhale works closely with the Getting Help team and can support referrals to them.

Below are links to the referral form which you can complete yourself and send into the Safeguarding Lead (jmanisier@brakenhale.co.uk) or directly to the email address Early.Help@bracknell-forest.gov.uk

>>Referral Form: Word Document – direct download to type into
>>Referral Form: PDF – to print and complete by hand

Are you a parent or carer who is concerned about the mental health of your child or teenager?
Do you just want some hints and tips on parenting?

MindEd for Families has advice and information from trusted experts and will help you to understand what problems occur, what you can do to best support your family, and how to take care of yourself.  MindEd for Families is written by a team of specialists and parents, working together.

Want someone to understand or advice to help a friend?  Kooth are there for you.  Kooth provide free, safe and anonymous online support for young people.

On Kooth you can chat to friendly counsellors, read articles written by young people, get support from the Kooth community and write in a daily journal.

Are you a young person in crisis?  Text the YoungMinds Crisis Messenger, for free 24/7 support across the UK if you are experiencing a mental health crisis.

If you need urgent help text YM to 85258All texts are answered by trained volunteers, with support from experienced clinical supervisors.

Texts are free from EE, O2, Vodafone, 3, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile, GiffGaff, Tesco Mobile and Telecom Plus.

Contact: 01344 311200 or form on website

Youthline provides a free, confidential counselling service for young people attending secondary schools and adults who care for and support young people.

Counselling at Youthline offers a safe space to talk privately with someone who is skilled in listening about whatever is troubling a young person. The counsellor will listen without making judgements and help to explore personal thoughts, feelings and experiences.

Brakenhale has counsellors who visit each week and direct referrals can be made to attend out of school. The nearest Youthline is at 7 Portman Close, Bracknell, RG42 1NE. There is a link to their brochure below and visit their online resources where you will find fact sheets, videos and links to other organisations.

>> Youthline Brochure PDF

Please find attached information regarding social sessions run by GEMS. These activities are for young people with a diagnosis of, or who may have autism and / or ADHD.

Please email GEMS to book a space on any of the activities:  gems.4health@nhs.net

This charity provides free sport and physical activity opportunities for young people to help build confidence and self-esteem, meet new people and support mental wellbeing.

Please find below access to free online guides for parents/carers to help with understanding your child.  The codes will work until April 2023.

Take a look at the link below, there are a variety of courses here and they are all free.  There is also a presentation with more information.

>>Understanding your Child Presentation PDF

What is Own It?

Welcome to Own It! We are here to help kids boss their online lives. Whatever you need – help and advice, skills or inspiration – we have it covered.

What does Own It have to offer?

The Basics covers different parts of the online world, whether that’s social media, gaming, vlogging or getting to know your device.

Take Control is all about owning your digital life – help and advice on how to look after your wellbeing.

It’s Personal is full of tips on how to handle your friendships and relationships online. We’ve got plenty of advice on how to deal with trolls, being kind online and even handling parents.

Don’t Panic is where to head if you are in need of help with anything online. It has tips for dealing with tricky situations and links to organisations that can offer urgent help.

Parents

Our Parents section is a toolkit to help your kids navigate life online, including handy tips on setting up your child’s first devices and videos addressing your common concerns about online gaming. >> https://www.bbc.com/ownit/curations/parents

To find out more you can go to the BBC’s website here:

A particularly significant part of many young people’s lives is social media. Sometimes, as adults, we are unaware of the mechanisms used and also the impact on young people - especially in relation to sexual harassment and abuse. A really informative report written by Professor Jessica Ringrose (in collaboration with others), addresses a specific issue with image-based sexual harassment and abuse. I would urge you to read to further your understanding. Please find the link to the executive summary and full report below.

Websites, forums and apps all present teenagers with certain pressures and choices.  Many of the disciplinary issues we deal with in school stem from misuse of phones and computers out of school yet often lead to distressing social confrontations within school.

As parents it is often difficult to keep up with the current trends and sites being used by teenagers and indeed by wider organisations, be they political, religious or more sinister.

We provide information for parents regularly.

Here are some tools and knowledge to help parents support their child in using these different media in a responsible and socially acceptable way.

>>Summary of Report

>>Full Report 

Websites, forums and apps all present teenagers with certain pressures and choices.  Many of the disciplinary issues we deal with in school stem from misuse of phones and computers out of school yet often lead to distressing social confrontations within school.

As parents it is often difficult to keep up with the current trends and sites being used by teenagers and indeed by wider organisations, be they political, religious or more sinister.

The NSPCC provides information for parents regularly.

Here are some tools and knowledge to help parents support their child in using these different media in a responsible and socially acceptable way.

CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) is the child protection command of the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The NCA has a wide remit related to serious and organised crime, which includes the protection of children and young people from sexual abuse and exploitation. CEOP protects children from harm online and offline, directly through NCA led operations and in partnership with local and international agencies. CEOP works with child protection partners across the UK and overseas to identify the main threats to children and coordinates activity against these threats to bring offenders to account.

You can use this site to report incidents, or potential incidents, of child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE).  You can also use this site to access other services that assist children, young people, parents and professionals with CSAE related queries.