Pupils in Lancashire get help to manage exam stress
The NHS in the North West are supporting thousands of young people with one-to-one sessions, workshops, and self-help workbooks.
Thousands of pupils sitting exams this week in the North West have been helped to manage stress and anxiety by NHS mental health support teams in the classroom.
Almost 600 hundred colleges and sixth form centres across the country have NHS funded clinicians offering one-to-one support, workshops, and training for teachers on how to support pupils struggling with their mental health.
In the North West, more than 17,600 children and young people have received help for a range of issues from anxiety or sleep difficulties which can be exacerbated by exams, with GCSE exams starting this week, and A Level exams from next week.
Parents and carers can also receive NHS support to empower them to support their children and young people out of school.
As well as preparing students for the exam period, trained and experienced staff are on hand to offer resilience training and coping strategies that can be used for the rest of their lives.
Dr Michael Gregory, Regional Medical Director for NHS England in the North West, said: “Many young people across the North West will be sitting their GCSE and A Level exams, and we recognise that young people are facing more pressures than ever before, something that can peak at this time of the year.
"The NHS is here to help with the implementation of mental health support teams within education settings across the region, working with colleges and schools to offer specialist advice on how to look after themselves and keep well.
“We know that adolescence is a key developmental milestone in life with approximately half of mental health disorders being present by the age of 14, so it is absolutely vital that our NHS teams are able to offer pupils and students easy access to support with the skills they learn helping them as they enter the workplace or head off to university.”
The North West is home to some 68 mental health support teams across various education settings, with another 13 teams in training this year.
Since 2022, the Tameside mental health support team from Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust has been working at Tameside College in Greater Manchester, helping hundreds of students build resilience and improve their mental wellbeing.
Working with the college’s mental health lead, members of the team visit the college once a week to meet with students who have been referred by the college. The team also attends college wellbeing events, such as the Freshers Fair and events around Children’s Mental Health Week and Mental Health Awareness Week.