As we look hopefully to face to face teaching of students and all of the support which being on site offers we want to recognise the amazing resilience which all of our young people have demonstrated and the role they have played in keeping our community safe.
It goes without saying that when students return we will be seeking every opportunity for dialogue and therapeutic input. Just as students have engaged with the Tell Us function during lockdown, talking to staff will become a staple for referring someone or yourself to our support when we return. Farnley has run a full time counselling service for 2 years now and has a layer of inclusion support and mentoring which takes place prior to a referral. The counselling is delivered by professional counsellors Sarah Schmidt and Sarah McNally (School Project Manager for Place2be) who have worked tirelessly through the school closure to adapt the support our students receive to the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Place2be is a not-for-profit children’s mental health charity with twenty-five years’ experience working with pupils, families and school staff.  They help schools understand and identify mental health problems, enable children to focus on learning and give them tools to cope with challenges throughout their lives. They offer one to one counselling for student’s and a self-referral service called Place2Talk. This is overseen by Place2be project Manager Sarah McNally.

Student feedback: “Since coming to Place2be I have been able to think and talk about my emotions more which helps me understand how I am feeling”.

We should all be aware of and support our own mental health and that of those around us, the following websites are a good start point. If there is anything we at Farnley can do to help Tell Us.

NSPCC.org.uk
NHS.uk
Mind.org.uk
ChildrensMentalHealthWeek.org.uk