Mental Health Terms for Schools

How to find your way around the terms Each term comes with a short description and link to further information if relevant

Use the alphabetical links below if you know the term you are looking for

If you are unsure of the exact term, use the headings to signpost you to the relevant terms by topic area. The links will take you directly to the term and its description

Use Ctrl + F and search for key words that might be picked up in descriptions

Browse through the pages. Some terms have links to further information either within or additional to the Glossary.

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Conduct Disorder

ADHD / ADD

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Children and Young People’s Increased Access to Psychological Therapies

Key worker / Lead professional

CAMHS Tiers

Psychologist

Clinical

Educational

Quick Jump: Mental Health Terms for Schools—by theme

Types of help

CAMHS

Clinical Psychology

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Common Assessment Framework

Educational Psychology

Family Support

Forensic Psychology

Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies

Occupational Therapy

Primary Care

Primary Mental Health Services

Psychology

Professionals - roles in mental health

Advocate

ASW

Care Worker

Corporate Parenting

Education Welfare Officer

Key Worker

Lead Professional

Mental Health Specialists

Panel

Parent/Carer

Registered Mental Health Nurse

Registered Social Worker

SENCO

Schools, behavior & mental health

BESD

Child Protection Plan

Complex Needs

Good Mental Health

Healthy Schools

Mental Health Concern

Resilience

SEAL

SEN

Statement of SEN

Wellbeing

Buying Services

Procurement

Providers

Pupil Premium

Resource Allocation System

Social Enterprise

Tender

Third Sector

Universal

Value for Money

Voluntary and Community Sector

Mental health problems ADD

ADHD

Aphasia

Asperger Syndrome

Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Conduct Disorder

Mental Health Problem

Mental Illness

Psychiatric Disorder

A

Academies All ability independent schools established by sponsors from

business, faith or voluntary groups working in partnership with central

Government and local education partners. They provide free

education to pupils of all abilities, including provision for children with special

educational needs

Accountability The obligation of individuals and organisations to report on their

actions and be answerable to others for what they have done

ACE Value

(ACE-V)

Online commissioning framework for early intervention mental health services.

ACE-V has 12 compulsory components (spread across

accountability, compliance and empowerment and value) and can be used by

service providers to demonstrate ‘commissioning ready’ status and service

quality. It can also be used by commissioners and schools to identify and

compare providers. Developed by BOND

ADD Attention Deficit Disorder. See also: ADHD and Hyperkinetic Disorder

Addiction The inability to permanently stop doing something, for example smoking or

taking drugs. These habits are usually not necessary for life (i.e where as

breathing is)

Attention

Deficit

Hyperactivity

Disorder

(ADHD) – term used to describe three main kinds of behavioural problem in

children:

overactive behaviour (hyperactivity)

impulsive behaviour

difficulty in paying attention.

Further information

Adolescent

inpatient unit

A hospital for young people (usually 12-18 years old) with serious mental

health problems. Young people will receive psychiatric treatment and take part

in therapeutic and educational activities

Advocate An advocate is someone who helps people express their point of view in

difficult situations where they might feel vulnerable or overwhelmed.

Approved

Social Worker

(ASW)

Qualified Social Workers (in England and Wales), which carry out a range of

statutory functions in mental health services in relation to detaining people in

hospital under the Mental Health Act 2007

Aphasia The impairment of the ability to speak or understand words

Asperger

Syndrome (AS)

Higher end of the Autistic Spectrum. Overall, people with AS are capable of

functioning in everyday life, but tend to be somewhat socially immature, relate

better to adults than peers, and may be seen by others as odd or eccentric.

Further information See also: Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Autism.

Mental Health Terms for Schools

ASSET Structured assessment tool used by Youth Offending Teams

Autistic

Spectrum

Disorder (ASD)

The obligation of individuals and organisations to report on their

actions and be answerable to others for what they have done.

Further information. See also Asperger Syndrome

B

BESD Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties

See also: Complex Needs, Conduct disorder. Further Information.

BOND

Consortium -

Better

Outcomes, New

Delivery

(BOND)

A two year sector led programme building the capacity of voluntary and

community sector organisations to deliver early intervention mental health

support to children and young people

C

Caldicott

Principles

NHS Executive Guidelines for the protection and use of patient information. Main Principles:

Formal justification of purpose Information transferred when absolutely necessary Only the minimum required Need to know access controls All to understand their responsibilities

Comply and understand the law.

Child and

Adolescent

Mental Health

Service

(CAMHS)

Multidisciplinary teams comprising psychiatrists, community psychiatric

nurses, psychotherapists and psychologists, sometimes social workers and

other types of therapists such as speech and language. Support children and

young people with severe mental health problems, both in community and

hospital settings. Further information.

CAMHS Four Tier framework

Levels of CAMH services are sometimes referred to as ‘tiers’ as follows;

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Universal Tier 1: Universal services and professionals working in them, providing a primary level of care, including primary and community health care (e.g health visitors, GPs, school nurses), education (teachers, school, colleges) social care (local authority children’s services, children’s centres) and voluntary organizations

Targeted Tier 2: A service provided by specialist individual professional relating to workers in community and primary care settings including paediatricians, community nurses and educational psychologists, as well as child and adolescent mental health professionals

Specialist Tier 3: A specialised multi-disciplinary service for more severe, complex or persistent disorders

Highly specialised

Tier 4: Essential tertiary level services such as day unit, highly specialised out-patient teams and in-patient units

Capacity building

Refers to activities that help organisations to develop skills and resources so that they can achieve their objectives and serve their stakeholders more effectively. Public and private sector organisations fund this development from their own resources (including debt and equity financing in the private sector). Third sector organisations, particularly smaller ones, are less able to do so as many do not generate surpluses to invest in this area; there is limited access to investment financing; and donors generally prefer to pay for projects which deliver visible results, rather than fund ‘behind-the-scenes’ activities.

Care Pathway The co-ordination of a patient’s care through the healthcare system

Care worker A person who works to support the individual with care processes, such as eating, washing, accessing the community, cooking, and so on

Children Subject to a Child Protection Plan (previously Child Protection Register)

A child being subject to a Child Protection Plan is an agreed expression of multi-disciplinary concern about a child, and will result in the implementation of an agreed Child Protection Plan led by Children’s Services within a local authority.

Children 'in need'

A child being subject to a Child Protection Plan is an agreed expression of multi-disciplinary concern about a child, and will result in the implementation of an agreed Child Protection Plan led by Children’s Services within a local authority

Children’s Centres

Provide a range of services for young children and their families. Every area has a network of children’s centres which are accessible to all, but primarily focused on supporting families in greatest need. Can provide early education, daycare, health and family support services

Clinical Commission-ing Groups

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are groups of GPs and other primary care professionals that, from April 2013, will be responsible for planning and designing local health services in England

Clinical Governance

A framework for improving the standard of clinical practice in NHS organisations. Systems and clear lines of accountability should be in place to ensure quality improvement. Clinical governance is composed of at least the following seven elements:

Education and Training Clinical audit Clinical effectiveness Research and development Openness Risk management Information Management

Clinical Psychology

Clinical psychologists aims to reduce psychological distress and to enhance and promote psychological well-being, including support with anxiety, depression, relationship problems, learning disabilities, child and family problems and serious mental health problems. Clinical psychologists may undertake an assessment of a child or young person using a variety of methods including psychological tests, interviews and direct observation of behaviour. Assessment may lead to therapy, counselling or advice

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Cognition Mental aspects of knowing, such as thinking, awareness, reasoning, perception and judgement

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

A type of therapy that aims to help people manage their problems by changing how they think (‘cognitive’) and act (‘behavioural’), which can help them to feel better

Collaboration Working together to achieve a goal – usually referring to organisations

Commissioning Commissioning is the term used for all the activities involved in assessing and forecasting needs, links investment to agreed desired outcomes, considering options, planning the nature, range and quality of future services, tendering contracts and monitoring and evaluating their performance. Usually a strate-gic level activity underpinned by more detailed procurement and contract man-agement support. Joint commissioning is where these actions are undertaken by two or more agencies working together, often health and local government, and often from a pooled or aligned budget

Commissioning Cycle

The commissioning cycle outlines a series of stages that commissioners go through to ensure that services are commissioned to meet needs. The stages include assessing need, identifying priorities, pooling resources, planning, pro-curing services to deliver outcomes, monitoring the delivery, evaluating the ef-fectiveness of services and applying this learning to repeat the process. Cen-tral to commissioning is the principle of involving service users and the public. In this model, figure 1 below, developed by the Institute of Public Care (IPC), the Commissioning cycle (the outer circle in figure 1) drives purchasing and contracting activities (the inner circle), and these in turn inform the on-going development of Strategic Commissioning. Figure 1: Commissioning Model for Public Care

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

Standardised approach used by practitioners across agencies to assess children’s additional needs and decide how these should be met

Community interest company

Limited companies, with special additional features, created for the use of people who want to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit and not for profit

Community Mental Health Services

Health services provided to someone in their own home or in the local community and are part of standard adult mental health services community provision.

Compact The voluntary and community sector’s written agreement with the government (or local public bodies) which has undertakings on both sides, shared principles and values such as recognising the sector’s independence, and mechanisms for making it work

Complex needs Children with complex needs have wide range of combined needs—e.g. mental health, social, behavioural, physical, medical, sensory, communication and cognitive. These needs may require informed, specific support and strategies to allow children to engage effectively in the learning process and to participate actively in classroom activities and the wider community. These may include multidisciplinary or trans disciplinary support (Carpenter, 2010)

Conduct Disorder

Conduct disorders are the most common reason for referral of young children to mental health services. The term ‘conduct disorder’ is generally used to describe a pattern of repeated and persistent misbehaviour. This misbehaviour is much worse than would normally be expected in a child of that age. (Source: Royal College Psychiatrists)

See also: BESD

Contract a. An agreement between two or more parties, especially one that is written and enforceable by law. b. The writing or document containing such an agreement

Clinical Commissioning Groups

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are groups of GPs and other primary care professionals that, from April 2013, will be responsible for planning and designing local health services in England

Counselling A general term for exploring emotional problems by talking them through with a trained counsellor or therapist. The term covers a considerable range of approaches. In its simplest form, this can be supportive and sympathetic listening in the form of weekly sessions over a small number of weeks. This sort of counselling is suited to people with fundamentally healthy personalities who need help in addressing a current crisis in their life or relationships

Some more experienced counsellors, who have had further training in any of a large range of theoretical approaches, work in a deeper way, and are able to help people with more complex problems. Further Information

Corporate Parenting

When a child becomes 'looked after', the tasks of their parent become the responsibility of everyone working for the council and elected members of the council. This is known as 'corporate parenting' and it is the collective responsibility of the council to provide the best possible care and protection for children who are looked after

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Cost-effective Economically worthwhile in terms of what is achieved for the amount of money spent. If an activity is cost-effective, it is good value for the amount of money it consumes. Judging cost-effectiveness requires that all costs are taken into ac-count when calculating the ‘money’ consumed i.e. all direct and indirect costs should be included e.g. costs of people, buildings, equipment, licences, con-sumables, and management etc

D

DfE The government Department for Education

Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)

Legislation aiming to end discrimination faced by disabled people. Outlines disabled people’s rights in terms of employment, access to goods, facilities and services, buying or renting of land or property

Discrimination Treating people unfairly through different actions due to prejudice or views against them, wrongly based on factors such as their disability, health, race and so on

DH Government Department of Health

Duration The continuation of an event or action within time, i.e, how long the event or action is lasting

E

Ecological model

Theory of child development that emphasises the impact of the environment on the child

Education, Health and Care Assessment

Under the Government’s SEND Reforms, this will replace the traditional multiple assessments for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (eg Statements), into a single assessment process. It is not known yet exactly what the process will comprise, but different options are being piloted until the implementation period from September 2014

Education, Health and Care Plan

A single plan will be prepared for children and young people following their Education, Health and Care Assessment. The plan will contain information about the child or young person’s needs, and help determine what services are required to support the child/young person. The plan will stay with them throughout their school life

Educational Psychology

Helps children or young people who are experiencing problems within an educational setting with the aim of enhancing their learning. Provides assessments of the child using observation, interviews and test materials. Educational psychologists offer a range of interventions, such as learning programmes and collaborative work with teachers or parents to help support the child or young person's learning

Education welfare officer (EWO)

This is a person employed (usually by a local authority or school/s) to help parents, school and local authority meet their respective statutory obligations and targets in relation to school attendance. In some areas, education welfare officers are known as education social workers. Some areas have developed the role or model, for example to a family support focus

Empathy A therapeutic quality that enables the therapist to understand and enter into the client’s concerns and feelings

Mental Health Terms for Schools

EAL English as an additional language

Evidence-based (programme)

Framework of treatment or intervention that combines practitioner expertise with knowledge of the best external research and evaluation-based evidence

F

Family People related by marriage, blood, or emotional commitment either living together or connected through looking after children and young people

Family Support community-based activities designed to promote the well-being of children, young people and their families

Forensic Psychology

Applied psychology in the criminal and civil justice field. They can work with a range of different services e.g. academic institutions, prison services, the NHS, police and social services. Forensic psychologists may work with offenders, victims, criminal and civil justice staff and managers. Typical activities include providing risk assessments and interventions to modify offender behaviour, provide offender profiles, and implement treatment

Free Schools Non-profit making, independent, state-funded schools. They can be set up by a wide range of proposers – including charities, universities, businesses, educational groups, teachers or parents

FSM Free School Meals – families on certain benefits or unemployed are entitled to free school meals

G

Genogram Pictorial display of relationships between family members – representing the historical, emotional and communicative aspects of these relationships, as well as their quality. Commonly used in family therapy to understand the family system, its subsystems and the nature and quality of connection among them

Good mental health

A positive sense of well-being which enables an individual to be able to function in society and meet the demands of everyday life. People in good mental health have the ability to recover effectively from illness, change or misfortune

GP General Practitioner or family doctor

Grant A sum of money given to an organisation in anticipation of it being used for an agreed purpose. This purpose may be very specific (e.g. to fit a smoke alarm in an old person’s house) or less specific (e.g. to promote fire safety among old people).

H

Health and Wellbeing Board

The Health and Social care Act 2012 establishes health and wellbeing boards as a forum where key leaders from the health and care system work together to improve the health and wellbeing of their local population and reduce health inequalities. Each top tier and unitary authority will have its own health and wellbeing board. Board members will collaborate to understand their local community’s needs, agree priorities and encourage commissioners to work in a more joined up way. Boards will bring together clinical commissioning groups and councils to develop a shared understanding of the health and wellbeing needs of the community. They will undertake the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and develop a joint strategy for how these needs can be best addressed. Boards will take on their statutory functions from April 2013

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Healthy Schools

The Healthy Schools toolkit is designed to help schools to ‘plan, do and re-view’ health and well-being improvements for their children and young people and to identify and select activities and interventions effectively (Department for Education, 2011)

Holistic This means taking into account all factors in the life of a child or young person which may contribute to their mental health

I

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)

A programme that aims to improve access to evidence-based psychological therapies in the NHS through an expansion of the workforce and services. Originally adults focused until the government introduced Children and Young People’s IAPT in 2011. http://www.iapt.nhs.uk/cyp-iapt/

IEP Individual Education Plan—links to EHC Plan

J

Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

The JSNA is developed in partnership between the NHS commissioners and Local Authority to collect all the data and information about health and social care needs in a locality. It will include public health data including trends and patterns. It is part of the basis of the assessment of need in the commissioning cycle and is led by the Health and Wellbeing Board

K

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

KPIs are agreed in the contract between commissioners and providers and describe the measures and information used to assess whether the provider is successfully delivering the outcomes and outputs in the contract. They are measures of success and need to be clearly defined, agreed between both parties and quantified.

Key worker An allocated member of staff who has responsibility for developing a trusting and caring relationship with a pupil or service user and their family/carer

L

Labelling Attaching a name or description to someone. The labelling is often untrue or limiting and can result in discrimination

Lead professional

Takes a primary role to ensure frontline services are coordinated, coherent and achieving intended outcomes. When putting together a package of support for a particular child and their family, representatives from the various agencies involved will agree with the child and family who is most appropriate to act as lead professional, taking into account a wide range of factors. This will typically be as a result of an assessment using the Common Assessment Framework

Learning Mentor

Some schools employ a Learning Mentor/s to provide additional support to pupils who are having difficulties with learning. The role can be focused on particular groups such as SEN pupils, or pupils with a range of needs which might include challenges in the home environment/parenting issues

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Looked After Child/ Children (Children Looked After) (LAC)

Child who is either provided with accommodation by a local authority children’s services department for a continuous period more than 24 hours, or someone who is subject to a relevant court order under part IV or V of the Children Act 1989. Could refer to children subject to accommodation under an agreed series of short term placements like short breaks, family link placements or respite care. Most looked after children cease to be looked after, after reaching their 18th Birthday. Some are looked after until their 21st Birthday under Section 20 (5) of the Children Act

M

Manifest Signs of a mental health concern which may begin to reveal themselves or make an appearance

Mental health concern

Used to describe any concern or worry about an individual's mental health. This includes concerns related to behaviours, physical condition, emotional regulation, and social relationships

Mental health problem

A phrase used as an umbrella term to denote the full range of emotional, psychological or psychiatric distress that present significant challenges for the individual, their families and those who support them including diagnosable mental illnesses and disorders. May cover a range of problems from relatively mild emotional disorders such as anxiety (which can become very serious) and mild depression to serious psychiatric disorders (e.g. psychosis). Mental health problems may be more or less common and acute or longer lasting, and may vary in severity. They manifest themselves in different ways at different ages and may present as behavioural problems (for example, in children and young people)

Mental illness A term generally used to refer to more serious mental health problems that often require treatment by specialist services. such illnesses include depression and anxiety (which may also be referred to as common mental health problems) as well as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (also sometimes referred to as severe mental illness) conduct disorder and emotional disorder are the commonest forms of childhood mental illness

Mental health specialists

Professionals with special training and skills to understand and help people with mental health problems. Includes psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, psychotherapists, art therapists, play therapists and counsellors

Further Information.

MSI Multi-sensory Impairment

Multi-disciplinary

A group of people with different types of training and professional background, who work together to support the needs of the pupil. May include professionals from education, health and social care

Multisystemic Therapy

An evidence-based, intensive family- and community-based intervention that helps high-risk young people to modify their conduct or address their emo-tional problems and improves long-term outcomes

Mental Health Terms for Schools

N

NICE National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Body promoting clinical excellence and the effective use of resources in the health service. www.nice.org.uk

NEET Not in education, employment or training

NHS National Health Service

No Health without Mental Health

This strategy sets out six shared objectives to improve the mental health and well-being of the nation, and to improve outcomes for people with mental health problems through high quality services (Department of Health, 2011). www.dh.gov.uk

O

Objective Something you need to achieve in order to meet your goal. Objectives are more effective if they are, for example, SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Agreed, Relevant and Time-bound)

Observation The systematic collection of usually visually observed evidence

OFSTED Office for Standards in Education. Body that inspects provision of education by schools and local education authorities

ONS Office of National Statistics

Occupational Therapy

A professional who assesses and treats physical and psychiatric conditions using specific, purposeful activity to promote independent function in all aspects of daily life

Outcomes and outcome measurement

Determination and evaluation of the results of an activity, plan, process, or intervention and their comparison with the intended or projected results. Can be used in work with individuals for example, for a family making a plan with a personal budget, the 'outcomes' will be what the plan must deliver. A good plan will show how the different ways a personal budget is being used will achieve the desired outcomes for the child. In a clinical setting, the clinician will use pre and post treatment/therapy measures to assess change – this might be session by session or over a longer period, or both. For a strategic level plan, the outcome might be a change in the health of group of people or population, this would then be turned in to outcome measures which will enable the impact of the strategy to be evaluated through comparing data before and after implementation.

In its purest form, measurement of mental health outcomes implies identifying the context (diagnosis, demographics etc.), measuring mental health status before an intervention is carried out, measuring the intervention, measuring mental health status again and then plausibly relating the change to the intervention.

Outcomes Based Commissioning (ObC)

Defines commissioning in terms of the outcomes it achieves rather than the activities and outputs it produces. ObC is focused on the health and social benefits and changes experienced by children, young people and their families. Prevention and wellbeing can be included as outcomes

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Outputs Outputs describe activities that a service delivers. Outputs answer the question what did we do? Outputs can include pieces of work, projects, sessions and products from an activity. Outputs need to be clearly defined and quantified. Outputs do not necessarily deliver the outcomes that commissioners seek. It is important that outputs are aligned with outcomes

P

Panel A term used in services to describe the meeting or group of key professionals who will make a decision about the support set out in the child's care plan. Families are sometimes invited to attend. The term 'panel' is used in children’s services and is often part of the budget management and decision- making process between different budget holders

Parent/carer Mothers, fathers, carers and other adults caring for a child and who usually has legal responsibility for their welfare and development

Parenting The process by which that parent or carer fulfils their role in caring for a child

Parenting Support

Any activity or facility aimed at providing information, support, advice or education which is intended to promote the confidence and skills of parents, mothers and fathers, or carers in their role as parents or carers

Performance Management

The tool that commissioners use to work with providers to ensure they are able to deliver the services that have been commissioned. Performance management will look at both the quantity of outputs that are being delivered and their quality. It will then relate this to the overall outcomes that the service has been commissioned to deliver. It will set targets and goals for the service

Person-Centred Planning / Ap-proaches / Thinking

An approach to planning which starts and centres on the individual and those closest to them. It values the individual and what they give to the world around them and it explores the individual aspirations, dreams and support needs and sets out action to support the individual in getting the life that suits them and those closest to them. This approach is most commonly used when supporting people with learning difficulties and is part of a good support plan

Personal Budget (Children’s Services)

the total amount of funding allocated by children's services to meet the support needs of the child. Families can choose to access this as a direct payment or to ask someone to manage it on their child's behalf

PHSE Personal, health, and social education

Primary Care Services provided by health professions e.g. family doctors, health visitors, dentists, pharmacists, optometrists and ophthalmic medical professionals

Primary Mental Health Services

child and adolescent mental health professionals working with universal and targeted services (tier 1 and 2) and usually providing a mix of direct therapeutic work and consultancy and training to other professionals in children’s and youth services in order to help them better identify and support mental health problems

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Procurement Procurement is a specific function within the commissioning cycle that fo-cuses on the process of buying or otherwise securing services, from initial advertising through to appropriate contract arrangements; in other words, commissioning looks at “what do we want”, procurement at “how do we get it”. The process is underpinned by specific procedures and legislation to ensure fairness and competition

Providers Suppliers of services offering support to children, young people and their families. Most often this term describes voluntary or private services but can also be used to describe a children's ‘in-house’ service provided by the local authority

PMLD Profound and multiple learning disability

Psychiatric Disorder

A mental illness which has been formally diagnosed by a relevant and qualified professional

Psychology the science of mind and behaviour. A psychologist helps to ensure the well-being of individuals, groups and families. Please see Clinical Psychologist, Educational Psychologist and Forensic Psychologist

Pupil Premium The Pupil Premium is allocated to children from low-income families who are currently known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) in both mainstream and non-mainstream settings and children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months. It is additional to main school funding and is designed to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for FSM and their wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most

R

Resilience Refers to factors which help to protect us all from the development of mental health problems. Resilience is essential to maintaining good mental health. Being resilient means that we are able to ‘bounce back’ and cope with negative events in our lives

Resource Allocation System (RAS)

a formal approach to making fair and equitable allocations of funding to the whole population of children eligible for support from a funding source

Review A meeting between key professionals, child and family to look at how support has been going, whether it is delivering the outcomes as set out in the sup-port plan and whether any changes need to be made to improve the plan and support. Reviews can happen on different timescales, most often after three, six or 12 months

Risk register (in project management)

A document used to record the risks facing a project or programme, usually produced as a table. It should, as a minimum, record a description of each risk, an assessment of its likelihood and impact and the management actions to be taken to minimise the risk, though it can be more sophisticated

RMN Registered Mental Health Nurse

RSW Registered Social Worker

Mental Health Terms for Schools

S

Safeguarding The process of protecting children from abuse or neglect, preventing impair-ment of their health and development, and ensuring they are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care that en-ables children to have optimum life chances – ‘safeguarding’ was made a statutory requirement though the Children Act in 2004

Section 17 Duty (under the Children Act 1989) placed on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need

SEBD Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties Related to BESD,

Services Describing all the different organisations, people and organisations

Service specification

The purpose of a service specification is to present prospective suppliers/providers with a clear, accurate and full description of the service required, including descriptions of standards, any statutory requirements and industry standards, and any procedures which the provider must comply in order to achieve the required technical standards. Generally, if the service is to be provided externally, the service specification will form part of the contract with the service provider

Skills for Life The ability to communicate, read, write and use number at the level needed in everyday life at home and at work

SLCN Speech, Language and Communication Needs

SLD Severe Learning Disability

Social Enterprise

A business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners

Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL)

A programme of teaching resources to promote emotional literacy in schools

Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Special educational provision is made for pupils who have needs that are ad-ditional to or different from the majority of children of the same age. Areas of need are identified as:

• Communication and interaction • Cognition and learning • Behavioural, emotional and social development

Sensory and/or physical

SENCO - Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

Coordinates the programme of special educational needs provision within a school

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Speech and language therapy (SALT)

Concerned with the management of disorders of speech, language, communication and swallowing in children and adults. Speech and language therapists (SaLTs) are allied health professionals. They work closely with parents, carers and other professionals, such as teachers, nurses, occupational therapists and doctors

SpLCD Speech, Language and Communication Disorder

Statement of SEN (Special Educational Needs)

Document that details the child or young person's needs and the special sup-port they should receive. Under the Government’s SEND Reforms, this will be replaced by a single assessment process. It is not known yet exactly what the process will comprise, but different options are being piloted until the imple-mentation period from September 2014

Stigma Stigma is a term used to describe when people judge others, disgrace them and set them apart. It can often involve mocking, teasing and bullying

Support Broker A role taken on by someone who will support the young person/family to plan and find the support they need and, if needed, help manage the plan in the longer term. Support brokers may be funded by the children's service or from a child/young person’s personal budget

Support Planning

Often used on Children’s services to describe a child-or family-centred approach of developing a support plan which makes good use of all the resources the family and child have and sets out how the personal budget will be used to make good use of these resources and get the support the child and family need. It will include information about how money will be managed and spent, who is responsible for delivering the plan and what happens if things are not working. The plan will also address any safeguarding concerns

T

Teaching Assistant (TA)

Usually work with a teacher in their classroom, making sure pupils get the most out of lessons by supporting pupils in their lessons. Some schools have provided additional training or given a particular focus to TAs for supporting emotional and behavioural difficulties

Team Around the Child (TAC)

An approach to supporting children with complex support requirements which focuses on the team of professionals involved working together to deliver child- and family-centred support

Tender The process by which prospective providers may compete to deliver a service that is to be commissioned. There are a variety of tendering models and procedures

Third Sector Encompasses voluntary and community organisations, Charities, social enter-prises, mutuals and co-operatives

Tiers of service See CAMHS Four Tier framework

Mental Health Terms for Schools

Sources: NASS, OPM, DfE, Mental Health Foundation, National Audit Office, NAVCA, NCB

Trans-disciplinary

A team composed of members of a number of different professions co-operating across disciplines to improve the well-being of children and young people with complex needs

Transition In the context of complex needs, refers to the movement or change for the child or young person usually related to age related changes. For examples, moving primary to secondary school or child to adult services

U

Universal Strategies, services or interventions made available to all members of the population

V

Value for Money

The efficiency of how public money is spent. When comparing different tender proposals for a service, commissioners will want to ensure they get the most from their investment in terms of both outputs and outcomes. Different proposals may offer different value for money in terms of quantity and quality of service

Voluntary and community sector (VCS)

Umbrella term used to refer to registered charities, non-charitable non-profit organisations, associations, self-help group and community groups

Vulnerable Relates to children and young people who may be at risk of developing a mental health problem due to different factors in their lives

W

Wellbeing (sometimes referred to as mental wellbeing or emotional wellbeing) A positive state of mind and body, feeling safe and able to cope, with a sense of connection with people, communities and the wider environment

Whole school approach

All members of staff in the school and residential services work together to achieve a goal or outcome

Y

YOT or YOS Youth Offending Team or Service. Multi-agency team working together to help and support young people between the ages of 10 and 17 who have either become involved in offending or are at risk of offending

Mental Health Terms for Schools