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Mental Health Support Team (MHST) Professionals
This page provides information for MHST professionals about Work Package 5 of the Exploring Mental Health Support Teams in Schools project, which will explore the experiences and outcomes of receiving support from an MHST in selected areas across England
What are the criteria for participating in the Exploring Mental Health Support Teams in Schools project?
Data collection will take place in various regions across England.
We will recruit children, young people and parents/carers to participate in this study through selected Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs). A member of the research team will contact MHSTs in the selected regions and meet with MHST staff during recruitment.
What is the Exploring Mental Health Support Teams in Schools project?
Background
In 2017, the Departments of Health and Education published a Green Paper (a government consultation) aimed at improving mental health support for children and young people.
The core proposals were:
1. Encouraging every school and college to identify a Designated Senior Lead for Mental Health to oversee the school/college’s approach to mental health and wellbeing.
2. Funding new Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to provide extra capacity for early mental health intervention and ongoing support in schools. MHSTs will be supervised by NHS mental health staff.
3. Test a 4-week waiting time for access to specialist NHS children and young people’s mental health services.
To implement the proposals outlined in the Geen Paper, the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Implementation Programme was launched in 2018.
The Exploring Mental Health Support Teams in Schools project is the shortened title for the ‘Evaluating the implementation of the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper‘ project. This research project is a collaboration between the University of Birmingham, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the University of Cambridge. The principal investigators are Dr Jo Ellins (University of Birmingham) and Professor Nicholas Mays (LSHTM). The overall aim of the project is to explore how the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Implementation Programme has been implemented, along with its impacts, outcomes and costs for children, young people and their families, as well as for different types of education settings and mental health services. For more information about the wider project, please visit this website.
This website focuses on Work Package 5 of the project, which is led by the research team at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Professor Tamsin Ford. This Work Package will explore the outcomes and experiences of receiving direct support from a Mental Health Support Team (MHST).
What does the study involve?
1. We will ask children and young people who will receive support from a Mental Health Support Team (MHST) to complete a series of surveys about their mental health and wellbeing. These surveys will include questions about their strengths and difficulties, quality of life, symptoms of anxiety and depression, service use, and socio-demographic information. Additionally, five to eight mental health-related questions will be completed using the online platform Artemis-A.
These surveys will be administered at three time points:
a. Before the child/young person begins receiving support from a Mental Health Support Team (MHST).
b. After the child/young person finishes receiving support.
c. At a follow-up, 9 months after the first surveys.
2. We will also invite children, young people and parents/carers who have received support from a Mental Health Support Team (MHST) to participate in interviews or focus groups to explore their experiences of receiving support.
What will I be asked to do?
If you are working in one of our selected Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), a member of our research team be in contact to discuss the ‘Exploring Mental Health Support Teams in schools’ project.
As part of the study, we will ask you to assist with the following tasks:
1. As a main contact for children and young people supported by your Mental Health Support Team (MHST), you will be asked to help recruit participants by discussing the study with children, young people, and their parents/carers supported by your MHST.
2. We will ask you to collect and share with the research team the contact details of individuals who are interested in the study and have agreed to share their contact details. We will then contact the potential participants directly.
3. We will ask you to inform us when participants start, finish, or drop out of an intervention so that we know when we should send them the questionnaires or invite them to an interview/focus group.
How will this study benefit me and the children and young people that I support?
This study will contribute to understanding the outcomes and experiences of receiving support from a Mental Health Support Team (MHST).
Upon completion of the study, we will present our findings to you to inform MHSTs about what is working well for children, young people and parents/carers, and to provide suggestions for improvement based on the experiences of those receiving support.