A new early intervention mental health service for Bury schools is helping children and teenagers.

The young people’s mental health support team, run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, visit primary and secondary schools to offer their support directly in school.

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The trust is in partnership with charity Early Break and the specialist mental health team provides group and one to one sessions for children experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties.

These include worry and low mood and the team help to support schools to develop their whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing.

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Faye Kirk, operational manager for the service, said: “We’re currently working with 19 schools in Bury, including 10 primary and nine secondary schools.

“We offer various types of therapy to help children positively change their thoughts and behaviour, this can include counselling, as well as sport or art-based therapy.

“Providing children with a safe space in school means they’re able to be more open and react more positively to support.

“Plus, having direct access to specialist mental health professionals means teachers can better support their students’ wellbeing too.”

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Lisa Slater, service manager at Pennine Care, said: “Schools have a hugely important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils.

“Our teams provide direct support for schools in the five Greater Manchester boroughs we work in, including Bury.

“We help pupils with mild to moderate mental health problems; as well as a wide range of early intervention and prevention tools, such as delivering assemblies, education and training to staff, and workshops for parents.”

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