This year, Place2Be’s official Children’s Mental Health Week will run from 5 to 11 February 2024. The theme is ‘My Voice Matters’.

My Voice Matters is about empowering children of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to work together to create a positive change for their mental health and wellbeing.  There are resources for schools, and families, including tools to help children and young people to express themselves.

Visit About - Children's Mental Health Week (childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk).

We would love to hear some of the innovative and creative ways that children and young people use to support their wellbeing and feature them in our next newsletter.  Please get in touch: localoffer@southend.gov.uk

N.O.W's the time for change offer coaching and wellbeing tools and techniques to help young people become resilient in challenging times of life by learning how to regulate emotions, creating positive and growth mindsets, behaviours and habits, embracing uniqueness and self-care. 

Since 2019 the NHS have funded N.O.W's emotional wellbeing and resilience workshops to support over 1000 primary school students in Southend alone.

N.O.W's the time for change school workshops and assemblies are tailored for key stage 1, 2 and 3 and available for ages 3 to18 years old across Essex.

N.O.W's collaborations with key partners include NHS commissioning across Essex; NELFT, SET CAMHS, Crisis Team, HCRG Care group and supporting organisations. 

For more information please find us on N.O.W's the time for change (nowsthetimeforchange.com)

Did you know the Southend School Nursing Team have a confidential text messaging service for 11 to 19 year olds?

ChatHealth enables young people to get in touch with a School Nurse easily and anonymously for advice and support on any physical health or emotional wellbeing issue including mental health, sexual health, bullying, drugs, alcohol and relationships.

11 to 19 year olds can text 07520 649895.

Parent Carers of 5 to19 year olds can also text the service for advice and support on health and wellbeing issues. Text 07507 331884.

It’s Children's Mental Health Week in February and in line with this year’s theme, My voice Matters, The IronWorks and Southend’s Youth Health Champions have partnered up to put on a free event that celebrates and empowers young people, and provides them with the tools they need to create a positive change to their mental health and wellbeing.

The Youth Health and Wellbeing event will take place on Saturday 4 February 2024 between 10.00am and 4.00pm at The Ironworks Southend, 90 High Street, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS1 1JN.

The event will showcase a range of community partners and health professionals, and an abundance of helpful resources that can be accessed locally. 

There will also be interactive dance, spoken word and graffiti art workshops, exhibitions, a mental health awareness zone with scheduled sessions including yoga and meditation, live speakers and performances and a youth market place. 

Young people and families are welcome!

Follow The IronWorks Southend on Facebook.

The Southend SEND Preparing for Adulthood Team invite businesses and organisations in Southend-on-Sea to an information and networking event about Supported Internships.

Come along to learn about the programme, hear from those who are already taking part, and find out how you can get involved.

Supported Internships are structured, work-based study programmes for 16 to 24 year olds with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) who have an education, health and care plan (EHCP). The core aim of the programme is for young people with SEND to be able to reach their full potential with a substantial work placement facilitated by an expert job coach. 

Benefits for businesses and employers include increasing the number of high-quality applicants, creating a workforce that reflects the diverse range of customers it serves, and bringing additional skills to the business.

The team would like parent and carers to know that this event is for businesses, but they are planning an event for parent carers and young people about Supported Internships in the near future. Book now

Firstly, let us welcome you all back to the routine after our seasonal break. Southend SEND Independent Forum (SSIF) have been incredibly productive over the past year, hosting events, launching our new website and Family Feedback survey, and generally putting all our efforts into effecting positive change within the services you all use. View our yearly round up. 

SSIF continue to represent SEND families voices in Southend, to ensure that the necessary changes are implemented to best meet the needs of our children and young people. You can give us feedback on anything that you want - the good, the bad and everything in-between. Complete our survey.

Dates for your diary:

Tuesday, 5 March - SSIF Parent Carer Wellbeing Day at The Cliffs Pavilion.

Thursday, 7 March - SSIF Seminar on Early Identification and SEND Support in Schools.

As always, advance information and priority booking will be given to our members for this free events. Sign up today to become a member.

If you’re a parent carer of a child or young person with SEND and need some advice or information, you are invited to come along to our next SEND Surgery on Tuesday 6 February.

The surgery will run from 9am to 11am and will be held at Hinguar Primary School, New Garrison Road, Shoeburyness, SS3 9FE. All are welcome, your child does not need to attend Hinguar School.

What parent carers said about our last surgery?

“helpful, kind and non-judgemental”; “very informative, patient and understanding”.

We run surgeries each month at various locations. Visit future SEND Surgery dates and venues on the Local Offer.

The SEND Local Offer provides details of services and support for children and young people with SEND.

Join the Local Offer team to give us your feedback on the SEND Local Offer section of Livewell Southend and tell us what information you need.

All are invited to attend these sessions – parent carers, children and young people or professionals.

Face to face session: Thursday 1 February at Shoeburyness Youth and Community centre (come along any time between 9.30am and 12.30pm).

Online Teams session: Wednesday 7 February 7.15 to 8.15pm.

For more details and booking links please visit Your Local Offer, your way sessions on the Local Offer.

An East of England network has been set up for children and young people with SEND aged 5 to 25.

Children and young people from Southend are invited to join so you can have your say on things that matter to you on a regional level.

The network, which has been named `Voices of the East` is supported by the Essex Multi-Schools Council.

The next meetings will take place online on Thursday 25 January with a choice of times to attend: 10am to 11am, 1.30pm to 2.30pm or 6pm to 7pm.

Children and young people will be voting on their first focus topic, discussing how they can get more people involved and thinking about how young people could be rewarded for joining the group.

If you know a child or young person who would like to attend please contact  localofffer@southend.gov.uk

The Lighthouse Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) team and JIGSAW team are hosting a series of ASD support group sessions in Southend and the surrounding areas. 

If your child receives a diagnosis of ASD, you will be invited to a support group. 

If your child has not yet received a diagnosis, you are welcome to attend the sessions to access support.

Find out more about upcoming sessions on the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) website.

The Lighthouse Child Development Centre has introduced a new sleep pathway to support young people who are having difficulties with sleep and their parents/carers.

The pathway uses a stepped approach; the first step offers simple interventions, advice and training for parents, along with signposting to external resources for further support.

If your child continues to experience sleep difficulties, they may be referred for more targeted support including a sleep plan, weekly consultations or a sleep clinic. Learn more about the support children may be offered on the Lighthouse website.

If you have concerns about your child’s sleep patterns, please speak to your Health Visitor, School Nurse, the Jigsaw team or Lighthouse ASD Specialist team.

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust have partnered with New Zealand based company, oVRcome, to create virtual reality videos of medical scenarios.

We need your help! We are looking for volunteers aged 11 and over to help us to create and watch virtual reality videos.

If you are autistic or have mild/moderate learning disabilities, we want you to tell us what medical scenarios you would like to see.

The scenarios will be made into videos, which we will ask you to watch and tell us what you think!

You can read more about the study. We carried out a similar study last year, read how it went.

If you have any questions or would like to take part in this study please email mse.autism@nhs.net or mse.learningdisabilities@nhs.net.

Autism Central offers support provided by families/carers, for families/carers! The service provides information, group online sessions and one-to-one support via telephone or Microsoft Teams. Your child does not need a diagnosis for you to access this free service. Upcoming online events include:

• 23 January - Supporting Sensory Needs
• 1 February - Supporting after-school distress
• 8 February - Supporting Sleeping
• 15 February - Holiday Survival

Read more about Autism Central for parents and carers.

Last time, 73% of you said clothes can help regulate senses and an attachment to clothes was a factor that led to 34% of autistic people to think they might be autistic. 

For this year's World Autism Acceptance Week Campaign, in partnership with Vanish, Ambitious about Autism would like to ask you a few more questions around clothing and diagnosis to make sure we are representing autistic people as authentically and positively as we can. 

The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete. 

The Southend SEND Local Offer is constantly sharing activities and events for children and young people and their families in Southend-on-Sea.

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