Principal - Lesley Welsh
Principal - Lesley Welsh

GEORGE PINDAR SCHOOL IS PART OF

Health and wellbeing

Help for lockdown worries

If you or anyone you know is struggling with the imposed lockdown during the Coronavirus pandemic, we are here to help. Please remember that, although we are not all together in school at this time, we, and a number of other organisations are available. If you want to talk to a member of school staff about how you are feeling, text 07895 132530 and we will call you back as soon as we can.

Click here for a list of other organisations who offer online advice, guidance and support.

 

Mental health

Mental health is a hugely important consideration for young adults in today’s society.

We are seeing an ‘epidemic’ rise in the number of teenagers being diagnosed with poor mental health. In order to address this, we want to provide students and parents/carers with as much information as possible, practical strategies and knowledge of where to go for additional support.

There is a lot of online mental health support for anyone needing to talk:  
  • Kooth has live chat for young people seven days a week – see more below
  • Anxiety UK has a live instant messaging service manned by volunteers, many of whom are experts by experience
  • Turn 2 me has online support groups which can be booked
  • 7cups has volunteer listeners available 24/7
  • Recovery College is a useful online resource with general advice, support and strategies for a wide range of mental health and wellbeing issues.
  • The Go-To is a portal or ‘single point of information’ for the wide range of mental health support services available to help children and young people in the county address their social and emotional health needs. With the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and prolonged absence from the classroom, online mental health support for young people has never been more important. Now more than ever we need to be looking after our mental health and The Go-To offers access to the support young people and their families need during these changing times.  
  • North Yorkshire Education Services have collated links and useful websites on a document entitled ‘Support for young people and parents in secondary schools in relation to mental and emotional wellbeing’
To find out more about these and many other support services, you can also visit https://scarboroughsurvivors.org.uk/
 

Kooth: Online counselling and support service for children and young people

We are delighted to be working in partnership with Xenzone who have launched Kooth, a free online counselling and support service which is available to all children and young people across North Yorkshire for 11-18 years.

Kooth.com is a safe, confidential and non-stigmatised way for young people to receive advice, support and optional counselling on-line. Staffed by fully trained and qualified counsellors and available until 10pm each night, 365 days per year, it provides a much needed out of hours’ service for young people. The service offers easily accessible mental health and emotional well-being support to young people, covering a wide range of topics and issues such as exam stress, bullying, friendship issues.

On Kooth, young people can learn effective coping strategies to be able to deal with day to day life. Kooth is anonymous and free to use, making it a powerful early prevention and treatment resource which young people are keen to use: more than 95% of end of session questionnaires show young people would recommend Kooth to a friend. With no criteria to access the service, all young people are supported no matter how small of big the issue may be.

If you require any further information to enable you to learn more about our service and to feel confident in discussing Kooth.com with young people, please contact us at parents@xenzone.com. You can also find further information about our service on the website.

Stress

This downloadable pdf document looks at how to deal with stress and how to manage positive mental health. The tips on this page are of particular help when facing examinations but are equally applicable to daily life.

It covers:

  • What is stress?
  • What are the physical and emotional signs of stress?
  • How to reduce stress
  • Positive self-talk
  • Stress indicators
  • Practical tips to reduce stress
  • Coping strategies
  • Social media
  • Fear of missing out (FOMO)
  • Face-to-face interaction
  • Bullying
  • Personal strategies for success
  • Where to get support and help

If you need any help or support, please talk to a member of staff.

Support for Parents

Helping your child with anxiety: If your child is struggling with worrying or anxiety, Young Minds have put together some ways you can support them and places you can get help.

A Parent’s Guide to Building Girls’ Body Confidence: Dove established their Self-Esteem Project to help support parents, mentors and teachers in sending out a positive message and ensure the next generation of women grows up to be happy and content, free from the burden of self-doubt that comes from appearance pressures. This booklet Parent guide to supporting mental health has been written by experts and designed for and by parents. We hope the advice and activities outlined on the following pages will help you encourage your daughter see her own unique beauty and find the self-confidence to shine. Visit dove.com/selfesteem for more articles with stories, advice and support to help your daughter be her best self.

Young carers

The Young Carers Service offers support to young carers aged 8 to 18 who live within the Scarborough, Ryedale & Whitby area. You can find out more about them here.

Drugs: Where to go for advice and support

Information for young people:

Exploring and experimenting with new things is a natural part of growing up to. Some young people use drugs because they like the feeling, or because their mates are using them or simply because they are curious – but there are some real dangers associated with using drugs which can lead to unforeseen (and unpleasant!) consequences… find out more in this advisory leaflet.

Information for parents/carers:

As your child enters adolescence it can be difficult to know how much control to relinquish as you both try to adapt to new boundaries; they may want to stay out later, see different friends and go to new places. Of course, part of growing up is exploring, learning and experiencing new things but, as parents/carers, you want them to do it safely. This leaflet is full of tips for parents/carers on how to talk to your child about drugs and alcohol.

 

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