Ealing mental health support team (MHST) 2023/24
This service is available for Academies and Maintained schools
To help meet the mental health needs of children and young people we work with schools, providing access to early evidence-based intervention for mild to moderate mental health problems like anxiety and low mood.
We are a team of children’s wellbeing practitioners, education mental health practitioners and senior clinicians and therapists
We work alongside the mental health support services that already exist in schools, such as counselling, educational psychology, school nurses, pastoral care as well as educational welfare officers, the local authority, including children’s social care, and other NHS mental health services.
As this is an early intervention service, a variety of approaches can be taken to support children, young people, their families, and carers including: one off consultations, provision of easily accessible psychoeducation workshops and delivery of evidence-based, time-limited, brief therapeutic interventions.
A key part of our role is the support of school staff in identifying and supporting their pupils who have a range of emotional, mental health and wellbeing mild/moderate difficulties.
The core hours for the service are 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday. Speak CAMHS Helpline is available to discuss any mental health concerns you may have about children and young people who live in Ealing outside of these hours.
The service is being continually reviewed and evaluated to ensure it meets the needs of children, young people and their families and schools.
Robert South
The team is based in Ealing CAMHS, Armstrong Way in Southall and works across education settings as an additional resource within a whole-system approach. It aims to promote resilience and wellbeing, support earlier intervention, enable appropriate signposting and deliver evidence-based support, care and interventions in schools and online as appropriate to children, young people, families/carers and school staff.
Staff are responsible for a defined cluster of schools or group of education settings and build relationship with each of them. The key person within the school they liaise with is the school mental health lead and/or senior leader with responsibility for mental wellbeing. They too will build a rapport with the child, young person and their family/carer/other stakeholder referred into the service.
Currently this service is available to 16 high schools and 55 primary schools in Ealing. If your school is not already an MHST partner school, please view the cluster details.
Referrals are only accepted from MHST Partner Schools and include all children and young people in primary and secondary non-specialist education settings aged 5-18 years (including those who turn 18 within the academic year) with an identified mild to moderate psychological, emotional or behavioural need.
In addition, all primary schools that have MHST practitioners can access the MHST+ service. This is a service set up specifically to support those children with a diagnosis of autism or learning disability or who have been accepted on to a waiting list for an assessment. Specialist ASC/LD practitioners will offer an assessment to suitable referrals and may offer intervention packages where this is appropriate.
West London NHS Trust
Dr Roya Afsharzadegan
Principal Clinical Psychologist and MHST Manager
Ealing mental health support team
Email: roya.afsharzadegan@westlondon.nhs.uk
Team Leads:
- Rumyana Nenova, Team lead and mental health nurse
- Theresa McDonald, Team lead and Art therapist
