The Place2Be works inside schools to support and nurture troubled children. They provide one to one and group counselling sessions plus a drop in service. As well as working with the children, they support the teachers and the parents too.
They offer emotional support to children to help them cope with life’s difficulties which range from physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, family breakdown and bereavement.
When children show challenging behaviour it is often the sign of a deeper problem. Day in, day out, teachers meet children who are angry, sad, anxious, violent, or unruly; children who can soon end up in far worse trouble…
A staggering 80% of children showing behavioural problems at the age of five go on to develop more serious forms of anti-social behaviour, and over 90% of young offenders have had a mental health problem as a child.
This is why they work in schools and offer effective early intervention.
The Place2Be currently work in 112 schools across England & Scotland, providing services to over 37,000 children and their families. By 2010 they hope to be working with 60,000 children in 190 schools.
How will our money help?
£275,000 has been awarded over 3 years to support around 5,500 children in Greenwich and Croydon.
This will:
- Support an average of 1,400 visitors per term accessing the Place2Talk, the name for The Place2Be's self referral service for children in schools.
- Support over 300 children through Group work
- Support 140 children per term through 1:1 counselling
- Work with school staff for 180 hours
In addition our funding will ensure continuity of funding and enable the front line Place2Be staff to focus on service delivery and develop the new extended hub model.
It is also hoped to leverage the time and skills of a further 60 volunteer counsellors and to demonstrate the value of early intervention to government and statutory funders.
Family Action (formerly Family Welfare Association) – Building Bridges Project
The Building Bridges project works with parents and children alike where a parent is experiencing an enduring mental health problem such as bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia or a depression related illness.
The project supports the adult in their role as a parent whilst responding to the related and separate often competing needs of their children. The project works with other agencies and encourages them to work together and co-ordinate services to the family. The current lack of connection between adult mental health services and children and family services is evident and the Building Bridges programme literally bridges the gap on service provision.
Rethink – “ Messing with your head” project
Rethink is a national charity working to improve the welfare of people with severe mental illness. A recent study has shown that for people who have a predisposition to psychotic symptoms (such as schizophrenia) cannabis use almost doubles their chances of developing symptoms. For those with no predisposition cannabis use increases the chances of psychosis in later life by 6.3%.
Schoolchildren in England are using more cannabis than in any other EU country (EU report 2005) and despite this growing evidence surveys show that young people do not recognise the dangers and think that cannabis is safe.
The Rethink “ Messing with your head “ project aims to educate 11 to 12 year olds on the risks associated with cannabis use by developing an interactive training package for use in schools which will include first-hand testimonials of older younger people who have experienced psychosis as a result of early cannabis use. The ultimate aim is for the DFES to establish this training as part of the national curriculum so that by 2010 every school child between the age of 11 and 12 will have been made aware of the dangers of using cannabis and the numbers of young people taking cannabis reduce by at least 30% by 2015.
