SEMH services and support

SEMH support and services for children and young people, families and education professionals.

Family services and support

For SEMH services and support for parents and carers use the following information, links and downloads. ​

Anna Freud Centre - Multi-family groups in schools e-learning | Training | Anna Freud Centre

Engaging with all parents/carers booklet explores what to consider and how to enhance parent engagement opportunities

Bereavement

For guidance on how to explain death to children visit the CBeebies Talking about death with your little one web page.

For support for families when a child grieves or a child dies visit the Child Bereavement UK website.

For support for families visit the Winston’s Wish website.

For national support and a helpline for families visit the Cruse Bereavement Support website.

Christmas and winter

For SEMH services and support for children and young people at Christmas and during the winter use the following links and download:

Depression

For SEMH support for parents and carers around adolescent depression, use the following link:

Drugs and alcohol

For SEMH services and support for young people about drugs and alcohol misuse use the following links:

  • Drugs, alcohol and mental health - Guidance from Rethink Mental Illness for parents and carers about misuse in over-18s
  • Frank - Honest information about drugs including free confidential helpline

Early years

For SEMH services and support for parents and carers about early years use the following information, links and downloads.

Eating disorders

For information about support for carers of young people (12 to 17 years) with a recent eating disorder diagnosis download the Beat eating disorders Compass - A coaching support programme for carers of young people document (PDF).

Exams

For SEMH services and support for families of children and young people around exams use the following links:

General resources

For general SEMH services and support for parents and carers use the following links:

Helplines

For SEMH helpline support for parents and carers use the following links:

  • YoungMinds Parents Helpline - Free office hours telephone and online support for parents and carers of children and young people under 25 years
  • Family lives helpline - Free telephone, online and email support for parents and carers
  • Samaritans helpline - Free 24/7, 365 days a year telephone, text and email support for anyone experiencing mental health difficulties

Knife harm

For support for parents and carers to help them talk to young people and young adults about knives and weapons visit the Essex Violence and Vulnerability Unit website’s Knife harm resources web page.

LGBTQ+

For SEMH services and support for parents and carers around LGBTQ+ use the following links and download:

Medication

For information to help parents and carers know more about mental health medications visit the YoungMinds Medications web page.

Relationships

For an intervention for parents experiencing difficulties in relationships with their children visit the Anna Freud Reflective parenting web page.

For relationship support for families download the Anna Freud Unhealthy Relationships guidance.

Self-harm, self-injury and suicide

For services and support for parents and carers around self-harm and suicide use the following links and download: ​

Training and coaching

For SEMH training services and support for parents and carers use the following links:

  • MindEd website - Free educational resource for parents and carers covering children and young people’s mental health
  • The Ministry of Parenting website - Guidance and support for parents and carers covering the challenges faced by families in society today

Transitions

For SEMH services and support for transitions use the following information, links and download:

Early years

For guidance on the importance of self-care for parents and carers visit the Anna Freud Self-care for all parents and carers web page.

Primary and secondary

For a short guide and tips about how parents and carers can best support children through the transition to secondary school visit the Anna Freud Supporting children’s transition to secondary school: guidance for parents and carers web page.​

College and university

For guidance for parents and carers about transition to college visit the Psychology Today ​Helping a child with or without autism transition to college web page.

For guidance for parents and carers with children on the autism spectrum visit the Scottish Autism Supporting transition from School to university web page.