Mental Health and Wellbeing

The Senior Mental Health Lead for the school is Miss T Challenor.

Mental Health First Aiders in school are Miss Challenor, Mrs Hehir, Miss Walker, Mrs Butler, Mrs Woolley and Miss Mills.

We are a CAMHS Reflexions school and put a high emphasis on our young people's mental health and wellbeing. Reflexions is a Mental Health Support Team (MHST) service that helps increase access to mental health support for children and young people in schools across the Black Country. They offer 1:1 low/high intensity CBT, Whole School Approach (WSA) including staff training, workshops and school assemblies. Helping children and young people who may need support with: Low mood, exam stress, problems with sleep, low self esteem and anxiety.

If you would like more information about the Reflexions service, or would like to be referred to their service please contact Miss T Challenor or Mrs L Hehir.

Five Ways to Wellbeing

At Dovecotes Primary School we promote the Five Ways to Wellbeing which has been shared in assembly with our pupils and at a crafternoon parent and child session with our Mental Health Support Practitioners.

Dovecotes Mental Health & Wellbeing Image.png

Why the Five Ways work

Connect: Strengthening relationships with others and feeling close to and valued by others, including at work, is critical to boosting wellbeing.

Keep Learning: Being curious and seeking out new experiences at work and in life more generally positively stimulates the brain.

Be Active: Being physically active, including at work, improves physical health and can improve mood and wellbeing and decrease stress, depression and anxiety.

Give: Carrying out acts of kindness, whether small or large, can increase happiness, life satisfaction and general sense of wellbeing.

Take Notice: Paying more attention to the present moment, to thoughts and feelings and to the world around, boosts our wellbeing.

Five Ways to Wellbeing in action

Keep active:

dance to your favourite song

walk a dog

hula hoop

join a sports team

play a game in the playground

walk or cycle to school

help in the garden

run a race with friends

make up your own sport

Take notice:

look what you can see out of your window and how it changes

paint or draw a picture of what you've seen today

think about how you are feeling today

listen to the sounds of nature like the wind and rain

play I spy

notice how your friends or family are feeling today

Connect:

talk to your friends and family

help a friend or neighbour

eat a meal with your family

make a new friend

say hello

bake some cakes and share them

Keep learning:

learn a new word each day

visit a museum or art gallery

try out a musical instrument

do a word search

try a new food

learn to cook a new recipe

study an animal or bug

visit a new place

write a story or song

Give:

smile and say thank you

make a homemade present or card for no reason

hold a door open for someone

give someone you love a hug

send your old toys to a charity shop

share with others

help around the house - wash the dishes or do some dusting

listen to someone else and how they are feeling

5 Ways To Wellbeing - Family Guide

Zones of Regulation

At Dovecotes Primary School, we recognise the importance of promoting positive mental health and emotional wellbeing to our students and their families. We aim to create an open culture around the discussion of mental health and wellbeing and to empower our children be able to regulate their emotions. By implementing the Zones of Regulation curriculum we aim to teach our pupils to identify emotions in themselves and others and provide them with bank of strategies to help regulate their emotions and improve their wellbeing.

The Zones of Regulation is a programme that aims to help children notice the emotion they are feeling and then regulate themselves if they are feeling uncomfortable.

The programme starts by helping children to identify which zone an emotion or feeling is in.

Blue Zone

This is where you would be if you are feeling:

tired
sad
bored
sick

In general you are feeling slow and are mostly feeling uncomfortable.

Green Zone

This is where you feel:

happy
pleased
proud
content
calm
ready to learn

This is the ideal zone for children to be in when in class, feeling comfortable.

Yellow Zone

This is when there is some loss of control

You may feel:

worried
scared
frustrated
behave in a silly way
be overly excited

In this zone you can be either comfortable or uncomfortable.

Red Zone

This is where there is a loss of control.

You could be feeling:

rage
fury
elation
total fear

The children explore these zones and learn to identify which zone they are in. This is supported by all staff and there are also posters in every room, a copy of which can be found at the bottom of this page. Sometimes children can’t or don’t want to name the emotion but they can identify which zone they are in.

Children also learn that their feelings and emotions can have an impact on the children and adults around them. If you are in the red zone and yelling at your friend it is unlikely that your friend will be in the green zone.

Once children understand the concept of the zones they will they explore ways to help regulate themselves with the support of sensory devices and calming techniques.

We want to help all children recognize when they are beginning to feel uncomfortable in the yellow zone and have a toolbox of ideas to help them regulate themselves.

At Home

You can support you child/children at home by asking them which zone they are in and using I wonder: “I wonder if you are in the yellow zone at the moment, you seem a bit worried.’

Naming the emotion will help them with their emotional literacy and show them that you can see they are feeling uncomfortable.

How they physically feel in each zone e.g. in yellow zone I may have butterflies in my stomach or have sweaty palms (if feeling anxious).

Then discuss how to help them move into the Green zone e.g. if I was in the Yellow zone and feeling anxious I might find competing some breathing techniques helps me get back into the green zone.

Some children find colouring, play dough, using stress balls, time at the park or reading really beneficial. You could also try using relaxing music, children’s yoga for deep breathing exercises or mindfulness.

The key message is to help your child understand that it is ok to feel angry, be worried or scared but they do need to find ways to help themselves manage those uncomfortable feelings and self-sooth. This will also help them with their self-esteem and resilience.

I hope you find this information useful, please contact school if you would like any more information about the zones and ways to use them.

For more information please view Zones of Regulation Parent Workshop. and Place2Be's - Tips for Parents & Carers.

Suicide Prevention

Talking about suicide can be really difficult and something we sometimes try to avoid due to worry that we may say the wrong thing. Mind have put together some useful advice and practical suggestions on how to support someone that may be feeling suicidal.

Mind - Supporting Someone Who Feels Suicidal

Below is a booklet explaining how to support someone who feels suicidal, giving practical suggestions for what you can do and where you can go for support.

Supporting Someone Who Feels Suicidal