There will be a greater emphasis on providing support earlier, and more opportunity to access a range of services in many different ways and settings.
Children and young people’s mental health is everyone’s business. So with increased support offers across the whole community, and the greater number of places and settings where it is available, schools, GPs and communities will be better supported to help children and young people with their emotional wellbeing and mental health needs.
A phased approach helps ensure we can keep families safe and well supported while we are introducing changes. Our new approach (phase one) began in April 2021, and phase two runs from September 2021 to April 2022.
Considerably increased staffing
We are pleased to have received a significant increase in funding which is enabling us to provide more and better services delivered through a larger workforce. These staff are increasing our capacity, some taking up new innovative roles and others supporting new services.
We have already recruited 50 new staff who are bringing additional skills and knowledge to enhance our support offer, and more will follow in the coming two years.
New Community Wellbeing Team in place
We have created a new team with 23 full-time equivalent practitioners working across Surrey with roles hosted by six of the alliance partners. These community-based practitioners connect with children, young people and families and are focusing on early intervention and supporting children and young people as soon as they start to feel they are struggling; they are helping families to navigate the choices available and engage with services.
New Early Intervention Coordinators (EIC) in place
Many mainstream secondary schools now have a named EIC, who is a dedicated supporter, acts as a familiar face and connects the child, young person or family to the right support or advice.
A new Building Resilience service has been created
This multi-agency service provides early support for children, young people and families via a range of services including counselling and therapeutic interventions, mentoring and various early intervention projects.
Volunteer wellbeing mentors
A new team of wellbeing mentors provides additional mentoring support to vulnerable children and young people and has begun to take requests for support mainly from colleagues in the north of the county but also covers other parts of the county. This service provides a vital additional support for some young people and allows for further tailoring of support to suit a young person’s needs.