1. Promoting the Emotional Wellbeing of Young People Leaving Care
Part 1/3

2. Welcome and Opening Remarks
Councillor Matt Golby
Lead Member for Children’s
Services and Education,
Northamptonshire County Council

3. Sean Duggan, Chief Executive
Mental Health Network

4. Personal Story

9. Conclusion
All of the evidence reviewed for this report points to the importance of supporting families and schools to build firm foundations for children’s mental health, and of offering effective help for any age at the first signs of difficulty.

10. They illustrate the importance of raising awareness and mental health literacy among families, schools and young people themselves. And they highlight the importance of making effective help more accessible, more proactive, and more responsive.

14. Thank you

15. Named Nurse for Looked After Children
Richard Lindsley
Named Nurse for Looked After Children

16. It’s strange being back at St.Andrew’s…
Mum
Dad
Pap

17. We take our family networks for granted…
Where does a care leaver go?
What do they need?
How does this impact on their emotional well being and mental health?

18. Care Leavers Association Survey
418 response care leavers (all ages)
Female 67.5% Male 32.5%
LGB&T 14.4% (general pop 7%)
Ages Under % (1)
16 – % (139), 24 – % (71), % (142) % (31) % (26)

19. Key Findings
87.1% of people experienced feelings of low self esteem (some, often, all the time)
79.6% of people experienced feelings of anxiety (some, often, all the time)
76.5% of people experienced feeling depressed (some, often, all the time)
78.5% of people experienced feelings of isolation (some, often, all the time)

20. I have experienced low self-esteem

21. I have self-harmed (symptoms could include cutting or otherwise physically hurting myself deliberately

22. I have experienced feeling depressed

23. I have regularly taken alcohol to excess (such as binge drinking, or consuming more than the recommend weekly amounts of 14 units for women or 21 units for men

24. I have used prescribed and/or non-prescribed drugs recreationally

25. Do you believe that these mental health experiences are a result of your care experience?

26. How do these figures compare to our Northamptonshire statistics?
We have no idea!
Electronic recording systems currently not set up to measure care leavers
We’d like to know:
Attendance at A&E
Self harm
Mental health service use: GP, Wellbeing teams, CMHT
We’re working on that!
Care Leavers Association had some success with prison service

27. What have we done? Health Passports
In 2014/15 over 400 Health Passports were provided to care leavers
We need to make these a valued document
So how can you help?
Make sure the basics are in place…GP first
Be available (car crash)
Build resilience
Promote engagement (resources are available)

28. What else is going on? Care leavers are high on the health agenda
Health Commissioners and Providers are meeting to look at services and identify unmet needs
Innovative practise being considered such as peer led services
ENGAGEMENT

29. Let’s think about Care Leavers Missed experiences…
Developmental gaps
Think about history
Life skills
Valuing themselves
Having trusted adults
Being kept informed

30. Filling in the gaps exercise
A member of the LAC mental Health Team will assist each table
Think about the young people in general and what they need for healthy development
On your tables, using the paper provided, spend five minutes to write one word or a short phrase related to these factors:
Physical/Material
Social
Emotional

31. Now we’ve identified the needs…
Let’s start thinking about the things your young people may have missed out on
If you think they had something but it was poor: rip that brick in half
If you think something was absent: Take that brick away!

32. Contacting the Integrated Looked After Children’s Health Service
Team contact number:
Team secure
Referrals made via The Referral Management Centre:
Castle Unit  Isebrook Hospital Irthlingborough Road Wellingborough NN8 1LP
Phone
Key contacts:
Dr Anwen Goodwin, Principal Psychologist & Clinical Lead
Richard Lindsley, Named Nurse for LAC & Team Lead

33. How to access mental health services for over 18sGP
Wellbeing Team / Counselling via GP
Lowdown, Service 6, or other local counselling services
Ask Normen
Young Northants
MIND
Young Minds