School Link Team

The School Link Team is a part of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Wigan. The team offers advice and support through active conservation (consultation) with other professionals. Discussing concerns about the emotional wellbeing and mental health of the children and young people; where identified the team can offer short term intervention with children, young people, parents/carers and the professional(s) to support them to improve their mental health. 

We offer termly consultation to all LA schools within Wigan. Please contact WiganCAMHSSchoolLinkTeam@gmmh.nhs.uk or your allocated Practitioner to book in for consultation. 

• To provide consultations with school staff and families, offering advice, signposting and to liaise with external specialist services to help children and young people to get the right support and stay in education.
• To offer direct, psychoeducation sessions to parents/carers and young people.
• Mental health promotion through working to upskill school staff, young people, and parents. We aim to normalise mental health within schools, reduce stigma and raise awareness of self-help and self-management strategies.

The service works with all schools within the Wigan area with the aim of supporting those under 18 years old who attend them.  

Referrals can be made by completing the below referral form and sending to WiganCAMHSSchoolLinkTeam@gmmh.nhs.uk.

School Link Referral Form.docx

Unfortunately, the school link team are unable to accept self-referrals or parent referrals. If you would like to access advice or assessment from the school link team, please contact your/your child’s school to discuss options for support and possible referral.  

If you are currently home schooled or do not feel you want to access support through school, you can still access mental health support through Wigan CAMHS.  

If you are a child or young person concerned that you may be developing symptoms of an emerging mental health problem please speak to a trusted adult, parent or carer. You and/or your trusted adult can then speak to your teacher, pastoral support team or head of year. School will want to support you by finding out more about your concerns and advising you about your options for support in school, this may initially include mentoring or school counselling. School might also discuss referral to our school link team, this will include completing a questionnaire to find out more about any anxiety, worry and low mood symptoms and discussing your hope for support. 

When we receive your referral, we will contact parents/carers to ask for more information and to find out how you are feeling at home. Then we will book a consultation with your trusted adult in school. We will find out more about your concerns and how this is affecting you at school. Initially, we will provide school and your parent or carer advice on how they might be able to support you.  

Your trusted adult in school will then let you know our starting plan which may include referring you onto another agency for support, more support in school or an assessment which involves meeting with you and your parent/carer, usually at school. Once assessment has been completed, we will decide together how you will be supported and the next steps. 

If you feel as though you or your young person is struggling with difficulties provoked by anxiety, you may find the following video useful. The video offers a basic understanding of what anxiety is, why we experience it, what we can do about it, along with some useful services who can provide some support. Within the video, evidence-based skills and tools are provided regarding how to effectively work with anxiety, along with some useful exercises which can be practiced at home. The video is designed for young people of all ages to be able to understand. 

The School Link team is part of the wider Wigan CAMHS team. CAMHS work within the THRIVE Framework which thinks about the mental health and wellbeing needs of children, young people and families through five different needs-based groupings: Getting Advice and Signposting, Getting Help, Getting More Help, and Getting Risk Support. The school link team provide advice, signposting and early help within THRIVE. 

Useful contacts

Emergency Services (Police, Ambulance, etc.)	999	24 hours and 7 days a week
Wigan CAMHS	01924 764473	Open Monday – Friday from 9am - 5pm
Papyrus Hopeline	Call: 0800 068 4141  Text: 07786209697 Email: pat@papyrus-uk.org	10am – 10pm weekdays 2pm – 10pm weekends 2pm –10pm bank holidays If you are having thoughts of suicide or are concerned for a young person who might be you can contact HOPELINE247 for confidential support and practical advice
Samaritans Helpline	Call: 116 123  Email: jo@samaritans.org	We're here round the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you need a response immediately, it's best to call us on the phone. This number is FREE to call You don't have to be suicidal to call us
YoungMinds	Phone: Parents' helpline 0808 802 5544  Website: www.youngminds.org	Young Minds provides lots of useful information regarding mental health and behaviour concerns for children and young people and has a variety supporting resources, as well as advice on where to get support and a parent helpline, which is free from mobiles and landlines Parents Helpline open Monday to Friday, 9.30am – 4pm
NSPCC	Phone: 0808 800 5000  Email: help@nspcc.org.uk  Website: www.nspcc.org.uk	Contact our trained helpline counsellors for 24/7 help, advice and support
Wigan Mental Health Urgent Response Team	0800 953 0285	24/7 mental health crisis line for people of all ages in Wigan

The team believes that multi agency working is the best way to support young people. Some of the other services we work with as well as schools are educational services, social services, school nurses, health services, voluntary and third sector services, and GPs.  

We are aligned with the family hubs across the borough Family Hubs (wigan.gov.uk). 

The CAMHS school link team are a term-time service offer routine appointments.  

If a child or young person needs urgent mental health support, please contact the CAMHS duty worker on 01942 764473 for advice and to determine if urgent assessment is required (Monday – Friday 09.00 – 17.00).  

Out of hours please contact 0800 953 0285. This is a 24/7 mental health crisis line for people of all ages in Wigan. 

If you feel unable to keep your child safe report to A&E as a place of safety.